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Norway is not the only country suffering from far-right extremism. Like a virus, it is spreading throughout Europe.

The recent massacre by far-right Norwegian zealot Anders Behring Breivik brought the problem into the spotlight.

But populist anti-immigration parties have been performing strongly across Western Europe, where many countries are still struggling to emerge from recent economic hardship.

Norway's anti-immigration Progress Party is now the second largest in parliament, winning one in five votes in the last election.

The idea of having a pure community, or a white Europe, is actually quite common within European right-wing extremist groups.

When the continent fell into economic turmoil in recent years, Populist parties throughout Europe received new momentum.

The Sweden Democrats enjoyed success at a general election last September, entering Parliament for the first time. They now have 20 out of all 349 Parliament seats after winning 5.9 percent of the vote.

In Denmark, the People's Party (DF) is already the third-largest party in Parliament and a partner in the country's government since garnering 14 percent of votes in the 2007 general election. The minority center-right coalition government, under the DF's influence, has turned the country's immigration rule into possibly the tightest in Europe.

In Finland, the popularity of the True Finns party has also grown in recent years. The party received 19.1 percent of the vote in this year's parliamentary elections compared to just 4.1 percent in 2007.

Among those major European powers, the British National Party, despite winning only 1.9 percent of the vote in the 2010 general election, has been represented in the European Parliament since 2009.

And although France's National Front party is not expected to win outright in next year's presidential campaign, it is expected to make an impressive showing after having performed well in this year's regional elections.

（中國日報網(wǎng)英語點津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.