While the warnings employed different terms and pointed to somewhat different groups of parties and politicians, they all shared at least two major messages: (1) the Great Recession has led to the rise of the far right, and (2) the far right is going to win big in the European elections of May 2014. Despite the broad consensus in the media on these two points, which by now are received wisdoms, the first is factually incorrect and the second is highly unlikely. As so often in politics, these ‘truths’ are based on a toxic mix of conceptual stretching, faulty generalizations, and professional opportunism. It is true that the economic crisis has caused an increase in public dissatisfaction with both the European and national elites and (significant) electoral losses for most governmental parties in most EU member states. But there is no clear trend in the electoral fortunes of far right parties. Overall, the Great Recession has not produced a sharp rise in the support for far right parties and neither the far right nor the ‘anti-European populists’ are on track to win a significant victory in the upcoming European elections.