Right-wing extremism has become a virulent phenomenon in Central and Eastern Europe in the last years. Political parties like Hungary’s Jobbik and Ataka in Bulgaria won seats in national parliaments and succeeded in dominating parts of the political discourses. In the following weeks the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung publishes a set of studies presenting the situation in most of the countries of the region by identifying the actors of right-wing extremism, their influence on the respective political landscape and state-driven or civil society-based counterstrategies.

Our second set of studies contains the Ukraine, where the “Svoboda” (Freedom) - party has good chances to enter parliament at the upcoming general elections next Sunday, October 28th 2012. Our policy analysis shows that the economic crises, unemployment and corruption have enabled Svoboda to add a socioeconomic dimension to its initial ultra-nationalist agenda as well as to expand its outreach by communicating with “the ordinary people”.