Analysis: Rise and rise of the far right casts a shadow over Europe

A FORGOTTEN comment by French foreign minister Alain Juppé last year predicted the kind of violence that struck at a Jewish school yesterday.

“We have flattered ourselves for decades that we have eradicated the danger of conflict inside our continent, but let’s not be too sure,” he said. He conjured up the spectre of “violent nationalism”, reminiscent of the Thirties, rising across Europe as jobs dry up, economies shrivel and the politics of the extreme return.

It remains to be seen who gunned down the children of Toulouse, but the signs have been clear for months; the neo-Nazi threat is on the rise and governments, particularly the German one, seem paralysed.

Last year, ultra-right winger Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people in Norway with guns and bombs, in an action he said was supported by far-right groups across the continent.

After that came news in Germany of a neo-Nazi death squad that had operated for a decade, eliminating immigrant businessmen and a policewoman while carrying out bank robberies and bombings. The discovery of the National Socialist Underground (NSU) forced Berlin to admit for the first time the extent of the far Right and the weaponry it had stockpiled. The hoard included bazookas, explosives, grenades and automatic rifles; 800 guns were seized in the last two years but authorities concede this is probably the tip of the iceberg.

The biggest fear is not that the Nazis will return to power, but that terrorist groups like the NSU will feed on economic discontent to cause the kind of bloodshed that its left-wing Baader-Meinhof predecessors wreaked in the Seventies.

German neo-Nazis hold firearms training at secret camps across the border in the Czech Republic in conjunction with a Czech extremist group, Zone18 – an offshoot of the British group Combat 18 – which has published disturbing internet material for people seeking terrorist training.

Gwendolyn Albert, a prominent Czech anti-racism campaigner, said: “It is an established fact that the Czech and German ultra-right parties have entered into co-operation agreements.”

Miroslav Mares of the Czech interior ministry said neo-Nazi gangs were gaining access to weapons and firearms training by infiltrating the police force.