Power blocs lose grip
The big centre-right and centre-left blocs in the European Parliament have lost their combined majority as support for liberals, the Greens and nationalists has seen a rise.
Pro-EU parties are likely to be in a majority but the traditional blocs will need to seek new alliances, BBC reports.
The liberals and Greens had a good night, while nationalists were victorious in Italy, France and the UK.
Based on current estimates, the previously dominant conservative EPP (European People’s Party) and Socialists and Democrats blocs will not be able to form a “grand coalition” in the EU parliament without support.
The EPP was projected to win 179 seats, down from 216 in 2014. The Socialists and Democrats looked set to drop to 150 seats from 191.
AP reports: Turning out in numbers not seen for 20 years, voters took their concerns about immigration and security to the ballot box, making parties led by the likes of Italy’s populist Matteo Salvini and France’s far-right leader Marine Le Pen among the biggest in the 28-nation bloc’s assembly.
“The rules are changing in Europe,” Salvini, Italy’s hard-line interior minister, said at his League party headquarters in Milan early yesterday. “A new Europe is born.”
Voter projections showed the League won 33% of the vote, up from just 6% at the last European vote in 2014.
The lion’s share of Britain’s seats went to Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, as citizens punished the governing conservatives and opposition Labour party for their embarrassing failure to manage the divided country’s delayed departure from the EU.
Riding what they called Europe’s “green wave” backed by Europe-wide rallies urging climate action, environmentalist parties made strong gains, notably in Germany, one of the continent’s main forces for EU integration. The picture of a fractured assembly for the next five years was complete as many citizens turned their backs on the centre-right European People’s Party — one of its key figures, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, saw her party lose ground — and the centre-left Socialists.
“We are facing a shrinking centre of the European Union parliament,” a subdued EPP lead candidate Manfred Weber said, after just over 50 percent of the EU’s more than 400 million voters had turned out over four days in the world’s biggest transnational elections. “From now on, those who want to have a strong European Union have to join forces.”
The Socialist lead candidate, Frans Timmermans, essentially conceded defeat, even though the two groups remain the assembly’s biggest by some margin.
“If you lose an election, if you lose seats, you have to be modest,” the former Dutch foreign minister said. “We have lost seats and this means that we have to be humble.”
Spanish caretaker Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez was a notable exception, as his victorious Socialists looked set to win 20 of the country’s 54 seats in the European Parliament.
While real power in Europe remains in the hands of the 28 member states, the assembly’s influence has grown. It’s helped improve air flight safety in Europe, cut down on plastics use, end mobile telephone roaming charges inside the bloc, boost data privacy, and cut carbon dioxide emissions from cars.
The parliament also has an important say in international treaties ranging from trade talks to Brexit.
But now new, uncomfortable alliances must be forged. The pro-business liberals, or ALDE, backed by French President Emmanuel Macron — whose Republic on the Move party is set to win 23 seats, the same number as Le Pen’s National Rally — insist that Europe’s traditional political certainties are a thing of the past.
“The monopoly of power has been broken,” said ALDE lead candidate Margrethe Vestager, currently the EU’s competition commissioner, describing Sunday’s polls as “a signal for change.”
Party group leaders began their horse-trading yesterday to see what kind of stable alliance can be established and who might secure the EU’s top jobs. Their decisions will set the stage for EU leaders, who meet over dinner today to see where the political pieces lie and discuss potential candidates.
Comments