Well, with recent revelations of money spent on EU politicians, it would not be surprising to find just that. Money. It's rather naive to think that all the Russian influence operations have been found and revealed already.
People in the EU don't equate "communist" to "evil", or even to "wants everything to be like the USSR".
Recently in the EU, foreign (also Russian and Chinese) interference has been more visible in parties on the political right. More generally, I would assume any party to be roughly equally susceptible to corruption and foreign influence, absent strong measures and procedures to find and prevent them, regardless of where it finds itself on the political spectrum.
" People in the EU don't equate "communist" to "evil", Actually they do it if you step out of your left wing Western European buble.
" Recently in the EU, foreign (also Russian and Chinese) interference has been more visible in parties on the political right. " It also clearly visible on the Left (in Germany Wagenknecht, die Linke, in France le francais insoumni, every Communist and Left populist party I am aware of) but I guess somebody on this thread has to be step out of its buble.
There is some amount of Russian money all over the political spectrum, but it's only really characteristic of the Right (think Orban, Le Pen) and the Center (especially in Germany, with examples like Gerhard Schroder becoming a VP of Gazprom almost immediately after his last stint as chancellor). The extreme left is the least likely to be significantly corrupted by Russian interests, since the goals of far left parties in Europe typically align very badly with Russia's goals. The only exception is that far left parties are typically anti-war, so they view support of Ukraine's military quite suspiciously.
But on all other fronts, a modern far-left Europe would be a disaster for Russia. The single most important Russian interest in the region is to sell its fossil fuels, which the far left is very skeptical of.
" the Center (especially in Germany, with examples like Gerhard Schroder becoming a VP of Gazprom almost immediately after his last stint as chancellor). " Schröder was part of the Center - Left and the Left in the SPD were very proud of their "understanding of Russia" .
" The extreme left is the least likely to be significantly corrupted by Russian interests, since the goals of far left parties in Europe typically align very badly with Russia's goals. " This is contraire against any evidence, which ignoring examples from above.
> It also clearly visible on the Left (in Germany Wagenknecht, die Linke, in France le francais insoumni, every Communist and Left populist party I am aware of)
Those parties certainly seem more sympathetic to Russia than "centre" parties in their rethoric and likely policy. However, do you know of any cases of interference becoming known recently?
As I said earlier, I generally don't assume the level of corruption or susceptibility to interference is strongly correlated with "position on the political spectrum". So it's perfectly possible that there was interference, all I claimed was about what has become known recently.
" Those parties certainly seem more sympathetic to Russia than "centre" parties in their rethoric and likely policy. However, do you know of any cases of interference becoming known recently? " This is a good counterpoint.
But I feel the Klimastiftung might be a starting point of corruption (I guess some journalists try to find out more). Also Wagenknecht repeats Russian propaganda frequently. I also think the case is similar to Krah.
> It also clearly visible on the Left (in Germany Wagenknecht, die Linke, in France le francais insoumni, every Communist and Left populist party I am aware of)
Those parties certainly seem more sympathetic to Russia than "centre" parties in their rethoric and likely policy. However, do you know of any cases of interference becoming known recently?
As I said earlier, I generally don't assume the level of corruption or susceptibility to interference is strongly correlated with "position on the political spectrum". So it's perfectly possible that there was interference, all I claimed is what has become known recently.
Well, with recent revelations of money spent on EU politicians, it would not be surprising to find just that. Money. It's rather naive to think that all the Russian influence operations have been found and revealed already.
https://www.politico.eu/article/voice-of-europe-russia-influ...
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/02/reveal...
I ask myself, can someone who openly was a communist in adult age as late as 1990s and beyond, truly have left those beliefs and values behind?