The German Chancellor, Mr Gerhard Schroeder, has urged fellow European leaders to tackle the growing rise of the political far-right.
He said in an in an interview in britain's Guardiannewspaper today that their best weapon was to seize upon extremists' concerns over law and order.
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Mr Gerhard Schroeder
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His comments came ahead of a meeting with the British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair in Berlin tomorrow, in which the two leaders were expected to discuss rising extremism in Europe, as well as the European Union (EU), the Middle East conflict, Afghanistan and the fight against international terrorism.
During the past week, Europe has seen French National Front leader Mr Jean-Marie Le Pen win five-and-a-half million votes in his country's presidential elections and thousands line the streets for the funeral of murdered Dutch extreme-right politician Mr Pim Fortuyn.
"In France, and possibly also in the Netherlands, the right has been getting stronger because, among the public, a feeling prevails that the question of internal security - the protection of people - has not been adequately addressed," Mr Schroeder said.
"If you make verbal concessions towards the extreme right, you make them strong. And so we have to take action against them, not appease them."
The German leader argued that the European Commission was partly to blame for the far-right's advance because of an inability to clearly explain its policies. He also accused it of not doing enough to sell Europe as "a place for social interaction".
"Decisions from Brussels that have repercussions for the economy and therefore for the sensitivities of people in the nation states should be communicated better, and this communication should be prepared before the decisions," he said.
"Otherwise they cause anxiety and give impetus to groups we must regard as anti-European, on the extreme right."
"Europe is very much more than a market place. It's always been a social model, a model at whose heart lies the idea that all citizens, or as many as possible, can share in the wealth that is created and also share in the decision-making," said the Chancellor
AFP