Editorial|The extreme right advanced less in the EU elections than many forecasts suggested. The European Parliament’s traditional power groups, the EPP, the Social Democrats and the center-liberal Renew, won 56 percent of the seats in the European Parliament.
Varound 2017, Europe’s traditional political forces were restless. It was feared that the extreme right would take power in the parliamentary elections of many countries.
The refugee crisis, the British Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s rise to the presidency of the United States were experienced. According to preliminary estimates, the avalanche was supposed to start in the Netherlands and continue through France and Italy. The political map of Europe was expected to change its color towards dark blue.
However, this did not happen. In France, power was taken by the center-right and Emmanuel Macron became president. In the Netherlands, the right-wing liberals held their ground and Mark Rutte remained as prime minister. In Italy, the populist right advanced, but the governments became moderate under independent prime ministers Giuseppe Conte and Mario Draghi.
Under the European elections held on Sunday, it was again assumed that the extreme right will take power in the European Parliament and that it will propel the far right to new national victories. However, such an outcome cannot be seen in the future map of the European Parliament.
The big winner of the elections was the moderate right-wing, which has grouped itself in the parliament as the conservative EPP group. However, it does not have a majority in Parliament, so it has to cooperate with other groups.
The traditional power groups – the EPP, the Social Democrats and the center-liberal Renew – won 56 percent of the seats. The reduction compared to the previous distribution of seats is only a few percentage points. The pro-European center right of the EU Parliament thus held its ground.
Ahthe extreme right advanced, but in the end power is only taken with cooperation.
From the first comments of European politicians after the elections, you could see a relief. It may happen that after the relaxation evaporates, the old forces – reinforced by the greens – are even more ready to cooperate with each other and act against the extreme right.
The ability to cooperate is also needed within groups. There have been discussions about unification in groups positioned to the right of the moderate right. A new center would emerge when Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Italian brothers and Jordan Bardella’s French National Front put their heads together.
“
In the end, power is only taken through cooperation.
You shouldn’t expect much from the project. Both parties did win the election and received a lot of national attention. However, this group would not have more direct power in the European Parliament even after unification.
At least the Italians are likely to seek cooperation with the moderate right – the largest group in the parliament – rather than the French extreme right. If the brothers of Italy want to push their own ideas forward, the EPP can be a better channel than the parliamentary group ID, Identity and Democracy led by the National Front.
In addition, part of the booty counted as the election victory of the extreme right is in the hands of the German Alternative for Germany party (AfD) – in a way, on the barrel shelf. With its Russian sympathies, EU views and interpretations of the war in Ukraine, the AfD has driven itself into a situation where not even the other extreme right wants to be friends with it. It could also be that instead of two groups on the right wing in the new European Parliament, there will be three far-right groups.
Ahthe extreme right’s avalanche has been canceled again. Of course, this does not mean that new companies are not coming.
The next time the power of the far right will be measured in France in a few weeks. If President Emmanuel Macron’s gamble with early parliamentary elections fails and the National Coalition wins, it would ultimately be a big step forward for the extreme right and the biggest achievement in Europe for decades.
The editorials are HS’s positions on a current topic. The articles are prepared by HS editorial staff, and they reflect the journal principle line.
#Editorial #extreme #collapse #elections #companies #coming
