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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 13 DECEMBER 2015 News An election which could reshape Europe's political landscape JURGEN BALZAN ANTIIMMIGRANT, pro-Putin and Eurosceptic. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen is on the verge of re- shaping Europe's political landscape if the Front National can sustain the electoral gains of last Sunday in today's second round of regional elections. Last week, Le Pen's far-right party won a 30% share of the vote nationwide and more than 40% in some regions, putting it ahead of the mainstream parties in six out of 13 regions. The result is neither a f luke nor a re- sult of the terrorist attacks that killed 130 people in Paris last month. Secu- rity was high in voters' minds, and was predictably exploited by Le Pen's anti- immigration and anti-Muslim rheto- ric. But Le Pen's surge is a direct con- sequence of the social and economic inequalities in France. Whatever the result in today's elec- tion, Le Pen's gains in France are a timely wake-up call for Europe's lead- ers. However, this is not the first alarm bell. In last year's European elections, the FN came first with 25% of the vote. Yet, these results have been largely ignored and the traditional elites of the centre-right and centre-left seem intent on sleepwalking into the next political crisis. If the Socialist Party's decision to pull out from regions in which it placed third in the first round prevents Le Pen and FN to make further gains it will still leave the far-right in pole position to reach the second round in the 2017 Presidential election. More worryingly, Le Pen is not alone. The far right is already in power in Hungary and Poland. Elsewhere, the Flemish nationalist and separatist party, the New Flemish Alliance is now the strongest party in Belgium. In Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Austria and Switzerland, far-right na- tionalist movements are all leading in the opinion polls as the single most popular parties. Other parties, such as Italy's Northern League, the Finns Party already a coalition partner in the Finnish government and the neo- fascist Jobbik in Hungary are gain- ing popularity and posing a threat to mainstream parties on both sides of the political divide. This does not necessarily mean that far-right parties will govern more Eu- ropean countries but they are already shaping policy-making and setting the agenda across much of Europe. In Eastern Europe, the centre-left has been annihilated and the opposition to nationalist parties in power mainly comes from parties to their right. Europe's main concerns centre around immigration, security and the economy and in many countries there is little to separate the far-right from the centre-left, with Czech President Milos Zeman and Slovakian premier Robert Fico increasingly moving to- wards the right on welfare and immi- gration. The established political elites are losing ground to populist parties who share a dislike for Muslims, the Euro, and multiculturalism and advocate state interventionism, full employ- ment, generous pensions and welfare systems for natives but not for immi- grants. Le Pen aims to lead a Europe-wide coalition of like-minded far-right and ultra-conservative movements with strong Eurosceptic views, and her elec- toral success will come as a spectacu- lar illustration of how the European project is in danger of imploding. Europe has never looked so fragile since World War II and the values of solidarity, respect for human dignity, liberty, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights are at risk and the traditional parties on the left and on the right have a lot of thinking to do. World leaders sign historical climate deal in Paris A deal to attempt to limit the rise in global tempera- tures to less than 2 degrees Celsius has been agreed at the climate change summit in Paris after two weeks of negotiations. Negotiators from nearly 195 countries signed on to a deal yesterday evening that set ambitious goals to limit temperature rise and to hold governments to account for reaching those targets. The deal is the first to commit all countries to cut car- bon emissions. The agreement is partly legally binding and partly voluntary. The deal, to take effect from 2020, ends decades-long rows between rich and poor nations over how to carry out what will be a multi-trillion-dollar effort to cap global warming and deal with consequences already occurring. The historic deal comes after negotiators from key nations – including China, the United States, and In- dia – gave their approval to a draft accord presented by host France earlier in the day. The text agreed accepts that the dangers of climate change are much greater than previously acknowl- edged and pledges to attempt to curb the emissions. The deal set a high aspirational goal to limit warming below 2C and strive to keep temperatures at 1.5C above pre-industrial levels – a far more ambitious target than expected, and a key demand of vulnerable countries. It incorporates previous commitments from 186 coun- tries to reduce emissions which on their own would only hold warming to between 2.7°C and 3°C. But it sets out procedures for review at regular inter- vals to deepen emissions cuts, with countries aiming to peak global greenhouse gas emissions as soon as pos- sible, and then rapidly scale down in the second half of this century. Critics said the agreement would still condemn hun- dreds of millions of people living in low-lying coastal areas and small islands. But supporters said the nego- tiations took a significant step forward in getting coun- tries to act together on a global challenge of immense complexity, and in sending a signal to global markets. French far-right leader Marine Le Pen