©Arnaud FINISTRE / AFP
At a glance, here are the five key takeaways from Sunday's European Union elections.
Far-right parties made striking gains in European Union elections on Sunday, while the ultimate losers were French President Emmanuel Macron -- and the Greens.
Here are five takeaways from the vote which saw Europe's centrist political groups emerge relatively unscathed and higher turnout than in 2019 among the bloc's 27 states.
Europe's far-right parties were winners in many places, coming out on top in France, Italy and Austria, while Germany's AfD came second and the hard-right also did well in the Netherlands.
But experts warned against reading too much into their success.
"The far right did well but not excellent -- let's not forget these are second order elections," said Francesco Nicoli, a visiting fellow at Bruegel think tank.
A big question being raised is whether two main far-right groups in the parliament -- Identity and Democracy (ID) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) -- can unite, creating a supergroup.
Verger dismissed that notion out of hand.
"I absolutely do not believe in a unification, it is out of the question for ID and ECR to merge," she told AFP.
As to the far right's likely impact on lawmaking in the European Parliament, experts appeared sanguine.
"The number of far right MEPs will only a limited impact on the EU," predicted expert Marta Lorimer. "They do not form a blocking minority."
The biggest single loser of the elections was Macron after his liberal party received a drubbing by France's National Rally led by Marine Le Pen.
The French president responded by swiftly dissolving France's national parliament and calling for snap elections.
The poor election performance of Macron's Renaissance party would see it lose some influence within the Renew grouping and the parliament in general.
It was a pretty good night for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who hopes to secure a second five-year mandate after the vote.
She will need the support of both the EU's 27 leaders and the new parliament -- and in the latter respect the data suggests von der Leyen can breathe a sigh of relief.
Her party, the European People's Party (EPP), remains the parliament's biggest grouping and experts predicted she would be able to get the extra votes she needs.
Based on preliminary results, Nicoli said she could rely on the support of the Socialists and Democrats "with a choice between liberals, ECR and Greens as junior partner".
It was a disappointing night for the Greens political group, which is on course to lose around 20 EU lawmakers .
"Greens are the clear losers, but these were trends clearly evident before," Nicoli said.
European concerns about security and the cost of living following the war in Ukraine, and other issues including migration, displaced the environment as a voter concern.
And all across Europe, right-wing opponents have successfully channelled discontent into anger at the EU's environmental push of recent years.
Greens EU lawmaker Bas Eickhout saw the results as a "mixed bag" -- pointing to the Greens' success in the Netherlands and Spain as well as smaller countries in the north and Baltics, including Denmark and Lithuania.
Around 360 million people could vote in the elections and in welcome news, turnout was the highest in 20 years at around 51 percent, according to provisional EU data.
"The good news for democracy is that the turnout looks likely to be above half of the electorate, although that is still below participation rates for national elections, and very low in countries such as Slovakia and Lithuania," said Heather Grabbe, a senior fellow at Bruegel.
With AFP
Far-right parties made striking gains in European Union elections on Sunday, while the ultimate losers were French President Emmanuel Macron -- and the Greens.
Here are five takeaways from the vote which saw Europe's centrist political groups emerge relatively unscathed and higher turnout than in 2019 among the bloc's 27 states.
Far right ahead
Europe's far-right parties were winners in many places, coming out on top in France, Italy and Austria, while Germany's AfD came second and the hard-right also did well in the Netherlands.
But experts warned against reading too much into their success.
"The far right did well but not excellent -- let's not forget these are second order elections," said Francesco Nicoli, a visiting fellow at Bruegel think tank.
A big question being raised is whether two main far-right groups in the parliament -- Identity and Democracy (ID) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) -- can unite, creating a supergroup.
Verger dismissed that notion out of hand.
"I absolutely do not believe in a unification, it is out of the question for ID and ECR to merge," she told AFP.
As to the far right's likely impact on lawmaking in the European Parliament, experts appeared sanguine.
"The number of far right MEPs will only a limited impact on the EU," predicted expert Marta Lorimer. "They do not form a blocking minority."
Weaker Macron
The biggest single loser of the elections was Macron after his liberal party received a drubbing by France's National Rally led by Marine Le Pen.
The French president responded by swiftly dissolving France's national parliament and calling for snap elections.
The poor election performance of Macron's Renaissance party would see it lose some influence within the Renew grouping and the parliament in general.
Return of von der Leyen
It was a pretty good night for European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who hopes to secure a second five-year mandate after the vote.
She will need the support of both the EU's 27 leaders and the new parliament -- and in the latter respect the data suggests von der Leyen can breathe a sigh of relief.
Her party, the European People's Party (EPP), remains the parliament's biggest grouping and experts predicted she would be able to get the extra votes she needs.
Based on preliminary results, Nicoli said she could rely on the support of the Socialists and Democrats "with a choice between liberals, ECR and Greens as junior partner".
Wilting Greens
It was a disappointing night for the Greens political group, which is on course to lose around 20 EU lawmakers .
"Greens are the clear losers, but these were trends clearly evident before," Nicoli said.
European concerns about security and the cost of living following the war in Ukraine, and other issues including migration, displaced the environment as a voter concern.
And all across Europe, right-wing opponents have successfully channelled discontent into anger at the EU's environmental push of recent years.
Greens EU lawmaker Bas Eickhout saw the results as a "mixed bag" -- pointing to the Greens' success in the Netherlands and Spain as well as smaller countries in the north and Baltics, including Denmark and Lithuania.
Higher turnout
Around 360 million people could vote in the elections and in welcome news, turnout was the highest in 20 years at around 51 percent, according to provisional EU data.
"The good news for democracy is that the turnout looks likely to be above half of the electorate, although that is still below participation rates for national elections, and very low in countries such as Slovakia and Lithuania," said Heather Grabbe, a senior fellow at Bruegel.
With AFP
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