Macron’s move to call snap elections also seen as helping commission president’s bid for second term
Ursula von der Leyen is on track to remain for a second term as president of the European Commission, as EU leaders meet on Monday for a first discussion on divvying up the bloc’s top jobs.
The EU’s 27 heads of state and government will gather for dinner in Brussels in their first group meeting since European elections last week boosted nationalist and far-right parties and triggered Emmanuel Macron to call snap elections in France.
The normalisation of ideas once confined to the fringes is cause for concern, not complacency
Far right? Hard right? Radical right? Or just plain right? The success in the recent EU elections of parties such as Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National, or RN, (the rebadged Front National), and Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), has generated a debate about whether the label “far right” should be retired because, as Spectator editor Fraser Nelson argues, many parties that carry that moniker are “now mainstream in a way that wasn’t the case 15 years ago”.
Such parties are, for Nelson, better categorised as “new right”. Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni, whose party the Brothers of Italy is descended from a fascist organisation, has shown in practice that “she is centre-right, not radical”. It is “nonsense”, Nelson insists, “to call Meloni’s party ‘post-fascist’ ” or to suggest that the disparate “new right” parties all belong to a single “ ‘far-right’ or radical-right lump”.
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The Le Pen family drama, Éric Ciotti apparently locking himself in his office … it would almost be funny if it weren’t so bleak
Éric Ciotti, exit stage right. On 11 June, the leader of France’s legacy centre-right party Les Républicains(LR) went on TV to finally set the record straight. With France’s leftwing parties negotiating a “popular front” in the lead-up to the snap elections on 30 June and 7 July, Ciotti announced that he would seek an unprecedented alliance with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) after its commanding victory in last Sunday’s elections to the European parliament.
This was the latest turning point provoked by Emmanuel Macron’s surprise dissolution of parliament on Sunday, which has provoked a major political crisis likely to result in a shake-up of political forces and loyalties. Of course, the old centre-right had long since embraced the hallmarks of Le Pen-style politics – from the obsessive fear of national decline and culture wars against French Muslims to to embracing the so-called “great replacement” theory. But the custodian party of what the French still like to call “Gaullism” has clung to an at least rhetorical rejection of the Le Pen family’s political project. The National Rally is the rebranded form of the Front National, the party founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen and other neo-fascists in 1972 as they nursed the wounds of Charles de Gaulle’s recognition of defeat in France’s colonial war over Algeria.
Case of teacher Ilaria Salis sparked diplomatic protests after she appeared in court in Hungary in chains
An Italian anti-fascist activist has been released from house arrest in Budapest after being elected to the European parliament, which meant she gained immunity from charges relating to an alleged attack on neo-Nazis.
The case of Ilaria Salis, 39, a teacher from Monza, near Milan, sparked diplomatic protests and anger in Italy after she was brought to court in Hungary in chains, her hands cuffed and feet locked together.
Germans under 25 gave the AfD 16% of their vote in the European elections, with particular support in the east
Paul Friedrich, 16, could not wait to cast his first ballot and had no doubt which German party had earned his support in the watershed European elections.
“Correct, I voted AfD,” he said proudly in the bustle of the commuter railway station in Brandenburg an der Havel, an hour from central Berlin.
Left-leaning parties in Finland, Sweden, and Denmark see surge in support in Euro-elections, countering rightwing popularity in France and Germany
Support for rightwing populists and the far right declined in Finland, Sweden and Denmark in Sunday’s European elections, with a surge in support for Greens and left-leaning parties offering what one candidate described a “ray of hope” for the rest of the EU.
With Emmanuel Macron calling snap legislative elections in France after his allies’ crushing loss to the far right and Olaf Scholz under mounting pressure in Germany after AfD became the country’s second largest party in the European parliament, the Nordic nations – where the Finns party are a member of the ruling coalition in Finland, and the Sweden Democrats prop up the Stockholm government – appear to have headed in a different direction.
Backed by Annie Lennox and Susan Sarandon, Daly had appeared on state-leaning media in China and Russia
Clare Daly, Ireland’s outspoken and controversial Dublin MEP candidate, has lost her seat despite celebrity endorsements from Annie Lennox, Susan Sarandon and other prominent figures.
The leftwing candidate was eliminated on Tuesday after falling behind rivals in the Dublin constituency on the 17th count.
Intake of lawmakers after the election also includes some controversial figures to keep an eye on
While attention has focused on gains made by far-right and centrist parties in the European parliament elections, this term’s intake includes an assorted – and often contrasting – mix of lawmakers. They include a social media influencer, a racing driver, and a former Italian army general. Here are a few to watch:
In L’Aisne, where the National Rally won over 50% of votes in the European elections, there is unease about the snap election
“Everyone is in total shock,” said Baptiste Lopata, a radiologist, sitting in his trade union office in the small northern French town of Soissons. “Now we’ve all got to mobilise against the far right.”
When Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, far-right National Rally (RN) won a historic victory in the European elections on Sunday night, its highest scores were here, in the north-eastern département of l’Aisne, where it won over 50%, and even 60% in some rural villages, compared with a 31% score nationwide.
Macron’s bombshell adds uncertainty to the race to be European Commission president, and the incumbent will need to look left or right for support
Ursula von der Leyen has begun trying to craft a majority for a second term as European Commission president, after major gains for the far right that are likely to mean a less stable European parliament.
Von der Leyen, a German Christian Democrat, was jubilant after her European People’s party (EPP) secured 186 of the 720 seats in the European elections, maintaining its 25-year hold as the largest group and leaving her a narrow path to a second term.
The far right has made significant gains in the European parliament elections. The French president, Emmanuel Macron, has responded with a high-stakes gamble
As the results of the EU elections came in, the shocks kept coming. In France, Germany and Italy the far right made serious gains. Just under a quarter of MEPs in the European parliament will be drawn from these parties. But outside the biggest countries the picture was more complicated – in some places, the centre parties held their ground, in others, the left did well.
The biggest fallout has been in France. Macron saw the surge in the far-right votes as a direct challenge to his rule and his response was to call snap elections for the French parliament. Why has he taken such a huge gamble and what could all this mean for France – and the direction of Europe?
Far-right gains unlikely to unravel deal but may dampen support for bringing EU in line with 1.5C, say analysts
The new European parliament is on course to have more politicians from parties that deny climate science and fewer from parties that want to cut pollution faster.
The results of the four-day election, which are still being finalised, show sizeable gains for far-right parties and a drop in support for the Greens that has cost them about a quarter of their seats. It has raised fears that the EU is about to put the brakes on climate ambitions that have helped set pollution-cutting standards globally.
President may slow the seemingly unstoppable far-right rise, but find himself trapped in a splintered parliament
Two years into his second term and with three more still to run, Emmanuel Macron’s ratings are not what anyone would call great: 65% disapproval, 34% approval. Since losing his absolute majority in the assemblée nationale in 2022, he has struggled.
Parliament has been increasingly paralysed, with the government relying on ad hoc deals with increasingly reluctant opposition parties or despised constitutional tools to pass unpopular legislation.
Country braces for ‘most consequential’ poll in decades after decision by Macron in response to far-right surge in EU vote
Political parties in France held emergency talks to sound out potential allies on Monday as the country braced for its most consequential legislative election in decades, called by Emmanuel Macron after being roundly defeated by the far right in the European parliamentary elections.
The National Rally (RN) won about 32% of the vote on Sunday, more than double the 15% or so scored by the president’s allies, according to exit polls. The Socialists on 14% came within a whisker of the Macron group.
Emmanuel Macron stunned politicians and the public by announcing a snap general election after the far-right National Rally party won about 32% of the French vote. But it wasn’t just in France that the far right was celebrating. In Germany and Austria, parties on the populist right made stunning gains. Despite that, the pro-European centre appeared to have held in a set of results likely to complicate EU lawmaking
Reaction to Emmanuel Macron’s shock election announcement continues to roll in.
Celine Bracq, director general of the Odoxa polling agency, told the AFP news agency it was a “poker move” at a time when there is a “strong desire on the part of the French to punish the president”.
It’s something extremely risky. In all likelihood, the National Rally, in the wake of the European elections, could have a majority in the National Assembly and why not an absolute majority?”
The most likely outcome is more fragmentation, more deadlock and chaos. A complete paralysis.”
Exit polls suggest support for Greens fell in Germany and France, leading to fears of weakening of climate ambitions
Green parties have shed seats in the European elections, provisional results suggest, raising fears that the continent may be on the verge of weakening its climate ambitions. Projections for the new European parliament showed the Green faction pushed from fourth into sixth place, with 53 seats, amid a broader shift to the right.
In Germany, a core Green stronghold, the party’s vote share appears to have nearly halved since the last election in 2019. Exit polls suggested it fell 8.5 percentage points from 20.5% to 12%. In France, where the far right was leading and President Emmanuel Macron called snap elections, support for the Greens fell by the same amount.
But the party scored smaller victories elsewhere. In Denmark counting showed the Greens with three seats, a gain of one, while in Sweden they were expected to have held three seats. A Green-Left coalition looked to have narrowly beaten the far-right for first place in the Netherlands.
Bas Eickhout, one of the two lead candidates for the Green party, said he was not disheartened by the projected results and pledged to push for an acceleration of the Green Deal.
“I wouldn’t say that this is a referendum on the Green Deal itself,” said Eickhout, referring to a package of environmental policies whose cross-party support started to fray in the final months of the outgoing parliament.
“Even if that were [the case], there are mixed results,” he added. “We have become the biggest in the Netherlands. Would you then say the Netherlands is in full support of the Green Deal – and Germany not? I think that’s too simplistic.”
The Greens did unusually well at the last elections in 2019 as student protesters led by Greta Thunberg forced climate change up the political agenda. But the faction is expected to lose votes as war and economic troubles crowd out environmental concerns in the minds of voters.
They could still play a key role in choosing the next EU Commission president, depending on the level of support for centrist parties.
In Germany, where the Greens are in a coalition government, the losses were met with disappointment from the party and climate activists. They have traditionally been buoyed by younger voters, some of whom now appear to have drifted to the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), as well as newer parties, according to polling data from public broadcaster ZDF.
Across Germany, the Greens’ biggest losses appear not to have gone to another party – but to people who did not vote at all.
“I think voters are giving very mixed signals,” said Eickhout, commenting on the reported shifts in young German voters.
He also said there was “one big lesson is that our biggest problem so far is that the Green Deal has been too much a Brussels agenda” and called for more debate in the 27 member states.
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