Europe Shifts to the Right

Elections across the continent show a clear trend
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jun 10, 2024 12:00 AM CDT
Updated Jun 10, 2024 6:33 AM CDT
European Parliament Shifts Further Right
Supporters of French far-right National Rally react at the party election night headquarters on Sunday, June 9, 2024 in Paris.   (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

Far-right parties rattled the traditional powers in the European Union and made major gains in parliamentary elections Sunday, dealing an especially humiliating defeat to French President Emmanuel Macron, the AP reports. On a night where the 27-member bloc palpably shifted to the right, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni more than doubled her seats in the EU parliament. (Italy is one of three EU nations where populist or far-right parties currently lead governments, the other two being Hungary and Slovakia.) And even if the Alternative for Germany (AfD) extreme right party was hounded by scandal involving candidates, it still rallied enough seats to sweep past the slumping Social Democrats of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

  • Sensing a threat from the far right, the Christian Democrats of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had already shifted further to the right on migration and climate ahead of the elections—and the party was rewarded by remaining by far the biggest group in the 720-seat European Parliament and de facto brokers of the ever expanding powers of the legislature.

  • In Germany, the most populous nation in the 27-member bloc, projections indicated that the AfD overcame a string of scandals to rise to 16.5%, up from 11% in 2019. In comparison, the combined result for the three parties in the German governing coalition barely topped 30%. Scholz's long-established Social Democratic party fell behind the extreme-right AfD, which surged into second place.
  • Undoubtedly however, the star on a stunning electoral night was the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen, which dominated the French polls to such an extent that Macron immediately dissolved the national parliament and called for new elections. It was a massive political risk since his party could suffer more losses, hobbling the rest of his presidential term that ends in 2027. Her National Rally won over 30% or about twice as much as Macron's pro-European centrist Renew party that is projected to reach less than 15%.
  • Overall across the EU, two mainstream and pro-European groups, the Christian Democrats and the Socialists, remained the dominant forces. The gains of the far right came at the expense of the Greens, who were expected to lose about 20 seats and fall back to sixth position in the legislature. Macron's pro-business Renew group also lost big. The four-day polls in the 27 EU countries were the world's second-biggest exercise in democracy, behind India's recent election.
(More European Union stories.)

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