BRUSSELS (CN) — Voters in the European Union's biggest countries gave conservatives and the far right decisive wins in bloc-wide European Parliament elections that ended Sunday, signaling a historic shift to the right.
This rightward swing was felt particularly in France and Germany, the chief pillars of the EU, with French President Emmanuel Macron's liberals suffering a stinging defeat to far-right rival Marine Le Pen, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats plummeting to their worst result ever.
After his party's thrashing, Macron shocked European politics on Sunday night by announcing snap elections for the National Assembly, where his party does not hold a majority. But the move was a major gamble and could backfire by allowing Le Pen's National Rally to secure even more seats.
Across much of Europe, conservative and far-right parties made gains and won elections in at least 17 of the EU's 27 member states. Still, power in Brussels will remain with the traditional centrist pro-EU forces.
In the lead-up to the election, opinion surveys showed that many Europeans felt frustration with their governments after years of crisis — waves of immigration, the coronavirus pandemic, the war in Ukraine, soaring inflation — and that they were looking to right-wing parties for solutions.
The clear winners were parties affiliated with the center-right European People's Party in the European Parliament, a result that likely will lead to Ursula von der Leyen, a party member, winning a second term as the European Commission president, the EU's chief executive.
The EPP, as the party is known, is projected to hold 186 seats in the 720-seat European Parliament, an increase of 10 seats from the last elections in 2019. Its biggest wins came in Germany, Spain and Poland.
The center-left Socialists and Democrats came in second and are on track to get 135 seats, four fewer than they held before. It was a solid showing for center-left parties, which are struggling across Europe. It won most of its seats in Italy, Spain, Portugal and Romania, making up for historic losses in Germany.
The EPP and Socialists and Democrats have ruled politics in Brussels ever since the EU came into existence in the wake of World War II. They are likely to form an informal grand coalition in the new parliament to keep the EU agenda of deeper integration among EU states and enlargement to add new countries moving forward.
The liberal camp, Renew, is set to remain the third-largest group in the parliament with 79 seats despite heavy losses, especially in France, where Macron's party won only 14.6% of the vote. Renew is projected to lose 23 seats in the European Parliament.
Combined, these three groups will hold more than 400 seats in the parliament and they are likely to join forces to command a majority with which to pass legislation, pick EU commissioners and set policy.
In a speech Sunday night, von der Leyen pledged to work with other centrists to fend off a surging far right.
“Together with others we will build a bastion against the extremes from the left and right,” von der Leyen said. “We will stop them.”
“This election has given us two messages: First, there remains majority in the center for a strong Europe, and that is crucial for stability," von der Leyen said. "But it is also true that the extremes on the left and on the right have gained support, and this is why the result comes with great responsibility for the parties in the center.”
She added: “The world around us is in turmoil. Forces from the outside and the inside are trying to destabilize our societies, and they are trying to weaken Europe. We will never let that happen.”
Follow @cainburdeau
