European Union parliamentary elections dealt stunning defeats to two of the bloc's most important leaders: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Supporters of the French far-right National Rally react at the party election night headquarters on Sunday in Paris.that they dealt stunning defeats to two of the bloc's most important leaders: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The four-day polls in the 27 EU countries were the world's second-biggest exercise in democracy, behind. At the end, the rise of the far right was even more stunning than many analysts predicted. The French National Rally stood at just over 30% or about twice as much as Macron’s pro-European centrist Renew party that is projected to reach around 15%.
The center-right Christian Democratic bloc of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which already weakened its green credentials ahead of the polls, dominated in Germany with almost 30%, easily beating Scholz's Social Democrats, who fell to 14%, even behind the AfD. With the center losing seats to hard right parties, the EU could find it harder to pass legislation and decision-making could at times be paralyzed in the world's biggest trading bloc.
Since the last EU election in 2019, populist or far-right parties now lead governments in three nations — Hungary, Slovakia and Italy — and are part of ruling coalitions in others including Sweden, Finland and, soon, the Netherlands. Polls give the populists an advantage in France, Belgium, Austria and Italy.
Among the most watched questions is whether the Brothers of Italy — the governing party of populist Meloni, which has neo-fascist roots — stays in the more hard-line European Conservatives and Reformists group or becomes part of a new hard right group that could form the wake of the elections. Meloni also has the option to work with the EPP.
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