Across Europe, centre-left governments are increasingly adopting hard-right policies, particularly concerning migration and minority groups, as a risk management strategy to gain electoral advantage, a trend exemplified in Slovenia, Denmark, and Romania. In Slovenia, Prime Minister Robert Golob's Freedom Movement, after enacting the restrictive ‘Šutar law’ targeting the Roma population, secured a narrow election victory in March 2026, but ultimately failed to form a majority, allowing the far-right to take power. Similarly, Denmark's Social Democrats implemented stringent migration policies, and Romania's Social Democratic Party has considered repealing anti-fascist laws. These shifts, often criticized by human rights organizations, demonstrate a pattern of normalizing crisis rhetoric and collective blame, which extends beyond migration to broader governance of minority populations. European institutions are ill-equipped to address the legitimization of such tactics within democratic systems, leading to low political costs for governments employing them.