Will Europe’s Far Right Fix the EU?

Right-wing populist parties in Europe’s two largest economies are rising to fundamentally transform or even destroy the European Union. Will they succeed? What does Bible prophecy reveal about the future of the European Union?

The EU rose out of the European Coal and Steel Community and has since expanded in scope and reach. For some, the EU is amassing too much power. For others, it doesn’t have enough.

Those who want to see the EU become a superpower think it needs more power in things that matter and less in things that don’t.

The future of the EU depends on Germany first and France second. In both countries, populist parties that used to demand the demolishment of the EU are rising in popularity. While it remains to be seen how these parties will influence the course of these nations, Europe’s prophesied destiny is clear.

Populist Vision in France and Germany

Hungarian Ambassador to the Vatican Eduard Habsburg writes in his book The Habsburg Way, “Brussels should not concern itself with problems that can be solved on the national level.”

Many agree with this principle but argue over what matters can be solved on a national level and where the EU needs more power.

In its September 29 position paper “Sovereign Nations, a Common Europe,” Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland wrote:

In 2029, something we have scarcely dared to hope for may become reality: A patriotic, right-wing majority in the European Parliament is coming within reach. For the first time, such a majority would offer a realistic opportunity to change Europe’s fundamental political direction.

We must seize this historic window of opportunity. Not for a handful of cosmetic changes, but for a fundamental reshaping of European cooperation. The structural failings of the European Union and the common currency run too deep for a few isolated reforms to suffice. A patriotic, right-wing majority must therefore bring about substantial change. We want to renegotiate the European treaties! European competences should be confined to areas in which a common benefit is genuinely evident. Their primary purpose should be effective protection of Europe’s external borders, the common single market, cross-border efforts to combat crime, and cooperation and coordination on security policy

Dramatic change is ahead for the EU, but even the AfD—which used to advocate for Germany’s exit from the euro and EU—now sees an opportunity to reshape the union to its liking. We have seen a similar course change in Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and in French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen.

“Over the past 10 years, France has seen the implementation of a European vision that is the exact opposite of the one I will champion,” Le Pen told reporters at a press conference in Brussels after a meeting with fellow European far-right leaders. “They wanted a powerful Europe. We got a powerless Europe. They wanted European sovereignty. All we’ve gotten is the dilution of national sovereignty.”

Presidential elections are scheduled for April next year—and Le Pen is leading in the polls. Many people fear losing their national sovereignty to the EU and Le Pen knows it. But many more realize that only a united Europe can survive this world. So even the far right sees the need for a stronger Europe.

But Le Pen remains critical about the EU’s direction. She added, “I’m not fooled by what the European Commission wants to do. The European Commission wants to turn itself into a state; we do not. And so we will stand in its way.”

Le Pen is campaigning for a national approach. At the launch of her 2027 presidential campaign in Orléans on October 25, she said:

Our defense will be neither delegated nor shared. It will be a national defense, with a national army.

I say this here: While I believe in the urgent need to prepare our national defense for any possibility of conventional war, and while I aspire to once again endow France with a powerful and modern army, we will retain exclusive control over our nuclear weapons.

The topic of defense is critical. There is a strong push for an EU army and French President Emmanuel Macron is even preparing to share France’s nukes with Germany and others. For those who fear Germany’s history, this is a frightening idea.

But even in Germany, opposition to a common EU army is strong.

While the AfD sees a need for defense cooperation, it currently rejects the idea of an EU army. Its paper states:

True strategic autonomy requires us to move away from one-sided technological dependencies, especially on powers outside Europe. We therefore favor closer cooperation between sovereign states in the defense industry: Through joint development in key strategic areas—such as drone systems or AI for security—and a preference for mutual procurement of European defense equipment, we pool our strengths to build a common arsenal of nations. Here, cooperation serves technological self-reliance and industrial scale, while command over soldiers must remain firmly in national hands. …

Decisions on war and peace are the ultimate expression of state sovereignty and must never be delegated to supranational institutions. We firmly reject a centrally controlled EU army or the pooling of defense policy. The constitutional requirement for parliamentary approval and national command authority over the parliamentary armed forces are inviolable. Germany will not participate in any supranational military structures that undermine national chains of command or subject German soldiers to foreign operational doctrines.

The AfD currently rejects a centrally controlled EU army, but the Bible reveals that in a crisis, it will come.

The AfD also stated it sees the need for Germany to have more power. For example, it advocated for larger eurozone economies to have more voting power at the European Central Bank. This would naturally give Germany, the EU’s largest economy, more power.

In 2016, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote: “The transfer of power to Brussels is really a monstrous deceit. The power is actually being transferred to Berlin. The whole European project is ultimately about Germany leading a united European army, economy and government.”

We can expect Germany to usurp more power in an even more direct way. In 2008, Mr. Flurry wrote: “Social unrest and riots will eventually force Europeans to succumb to a strong united government of Europe, led ultimately not from Brussels, but from Berlin.”

The AfD may not fully understand the European project, and not all of its ideas match Europe’s prophesied future. But its demands could increase German power in the EU. The Bible is clear on what this union will look like.

What Bible Prophecy Reveals

From the beginning, the European project promised that nations would retain their sovereignty. The late Herbert W. Armstrong compared this promise with Bible prophecy and wrote in a November 16, 1961, co-worker letter:

Right now the trend in this Common Market is toward “a Europe of United but Sovereign Nations.” On this basis, with each nation retaining its own sovereignty, Britain is seeking admission. But, later, it will develop into an actual revival of the “Holy Roman Empire”—with one central ruler, and 10 others placing all their military power in his hands. And prophecy says this giant new power will destroy American cities and conquer this great nation!

In 1978, with Britain firmly entrenched in the European Economic Community, Mr. Armstrong prophesied that this union would transform into a “soon-coming resurrected ‘Holy Roman Empire’—a sort of soon-coming ‘United States of Europe’—a union of 10 nations to rise up out of or following the Common Market of today. Britain will not be in that empire soon to come.”

Britain left the EU fearing a loss of sovereignty, just as Mr. Armstrong prophesied. In “The Spirit of Charlemagne Is Alive in Europe” Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry wrote in 2016:

Britain was forced into a no-win situation. If it remained in the EU, it would have to accept less and less sovereignty, less democracy, more and more integration, and more power for EU leaders. If Britain did not conform to the idea of an EU superpresident, it would either be kicked out of the Union or choose to leave—which is exactly what British voters did in June.

While Mr. Armstrong prophesied Britain’s exclusion from the union, he repeatedly said that Germany and France would remain part of it. Today, even the populist leaders of these nations warm up to the idea of strong united Europe.

Bible prophecy also clearly shows where individual member states will give up their sovereignty.

Revelation 17:12-13 read: “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.” Daniel 11:40 and other prophecies show that this “king of the north” will go to war together. Isaiah 23 and Revelation 18 show it will be a united economic bloc.

Based on this, Mr. Armstrong prophesied for decades of the formation of “10 nations in Europe” that will unite “under one government” with “one united military force” (co-worker letter, July 24, 1983).

The coming EU superstate will not be ruled by bureaucrats but by 10 kings. These kings will not be sovereign but subject to a centralized leader.

In August 1978, Mr. Armstrong wrote: “But they will give all their military and monetary power to the central ruler over the 10—the coming European leader.” Mr. Armstrong believed this would occur as a result of a financial crisis in the U.S. coupled with fear of Russia and with the help of the Catholic Church.

The prophesied 10 kings may regain certain sovereignty in domestic issues; but when it comes to important economic and military issues, they will surrender their power to an overarching leader.

As Mr. Flurry’s article “Ten Kings of the New Holy Roman Empire Rising Now” shows, Europe’s unification project is almost complete, but its most radical transformation is yet ahead.