Euro Parliament elections

The recently completed elections in the European Parliament have implications for the US government and its citizens. The main issues were the Ukraine war, immigration, and the cost of a green transition. Right-wing parties won about 150 seats, but they are not united, limiting their power. The conservative and liberal groups together won 400 seats and have the best chance of forming a coalition and staying the majority group. Far-right parties made gains in Germany, Italy, and France. Macron has called for a snap election in France, hoping for a show of strength against the far-right and to form a coalition with centrist parties. The far-right is also trying to bring center-right parties into their fold. Leftist parties are coming together with a worker-friendly program. Overall, right-wing politics is gaining strength in European elections. Hello everyone. When it comes to paying attention to international news, Americans are notorious for focusing on wars, bad economic news, and not much else. That's unfortunate, since the recently completed elections in the 27 European Union countries for a European Parliament do impact the U.S. government and its citizens. The issues in the European Parliament elections were the Ukraine war, immigration, and the cost of a green transition. But the transcendent issue there, as here, is anti-democracy versus pro-democracy constitutional rule, which is to say the far-right versus the left-to-center-right. The voting, which takes place every five years, was for 720 seats, with the winning parties in each country gaining a proportion of seats in the Parliament. The Parliament is organized into seven groups by political leanings, not nationality. Examining the results for these seven groups, we find that the right-wing parties won about 150 seats, but they don't all belong to the same political group, limiting their power. On the other hand, the three leading conservative and liberal groups, while they together lost 17 seats compared to five years ago, all together won 400 seats. They have the best chance of forming a coalition and staying the majority group in Parliament. That's why European Union Commission head Ursula von der Leyen said, quote, the center is holding, though extremists have gained great support. Indeed, although headlines here and abroad highlighted a huge right-wing populist victory, the figures indicate that center-left and center-right parties still constitute a majority in the European Parliament. But when we look at the results at the national level, far-right parties have scored the biggest gains, notably in Germany, Italy, and especially France. In Germany, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats suffered a major defeat, winning just 14 percent of the vote. The far-right AFD, the alternative for Germany, got 16.5 percent, and the Christian Democrats 29.5 percent. And in Italy, right-wing leader Giorgio Meloni's Brothers of Italy party came out on top with about 29 percent of the vote, a major gain of 14 seats. The French situation is particularly concerning. Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally Party got 31.5 percent of the vote, to President Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance Party's 15.2 percent. That glaring defeat led Macron to dissolve the National Assembly and call for a snap election, a strategy he characterized as an unpinned grenade. Apparently, Macron is banking on the National Rally winning, but proving incompetent at governing. It's a plan many in France believe will backfire. Early polls show the far-right well ahead in new parliament elections, with the leftist party second. Macron's popularity has fallen to a five-year low. France faces a debt crisis, bonds and equities are tumbling, and its economy is limping along even more slowly than Britain's. Nevertheless, Macron is banking on two things. First, a massive show of strength in the streets against the far-right, which is already happening. Second, formation of a coalition with other centrist parties. Things are simple today, he said. We have unnatural alliances at both extremes who will not be able to implement any program. He vows to stay in office through his term, which ends in 2027, no matter what. As he said after calling for the snap election, quote, everybody sees the floodwaters of the far-right rising. Everybody is saying Macron will hand them the keys of power. I don't want to give them the keys to power in 2027, unquote. The election will be held in two rounds, June 30th and July 7th. So far, the political situation since the snap election announcement is chaotic. Even if the far-right gains the number one position in parliament, it will still not be able to govern by itself. Le Pen's national rally is therefore trying to bring a center-right party, Les Républicains, into the fold, but is facing resistance. Leftist parties are coming together against all sides with a worker-friendly program that includes tying wages to inflation, a wealth tax on the rich, and a lower retirement age. There were some pleasant surprises elsewhere. In Hungary, far-right Prime Minister Viktor Orban's party lost ground. In Poland, the new Prime Minister Donald Tusk's party defeated a right-wing party. And in the Netherlands, the Green Links party came in first. To sum up, Europe does not yet face a political crisis on the order of Winston Churchill's famous Iron Curtain speech. But right-wing politics is widely popular and gaining strength in nearly every major electoral contest so far. We'll know more and very soon by watching the outcome in France. I'm Mel Gertau for The Global Citizen. Thanks for listening.