Right Surges In EU Elections--Whatever That Means
No doubt there will be plenty of analysis coming next week. The EU elections end today, and the biggest news so far seems to be coming from France, where Macron was spanked so soundly that he’s called new national parliamentary elections. Zerohedge has early coverage:
Tsunami? It’s all relative.
As we await the results from the European Parliament vote (previewed here), the exit polls from Germany are already in and they are a disaster for both the alliance of French president Macron, who was steamrolled by Marine Le Pen, and for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats, which crashed to their worst-ever result in European Parliament elections Sunday, as conservative and right-wing parties soared across the old continent …
According to preliminary results from five countries, right-wing parties are estimated to have won at least 33 of the 174 seats available in Austria, Cyprus, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands, according to official exit polls from those countries, up from 19 seats at the last election in 2019.
As far as I can tell, the German Uniparty will continue more or less on course—they’ve agreed to freeze out the second largest party, the AfD:
On the other hand, for what it’s worth, given that Scholz’s three party coalition—SPD, Green, Free Democrats—crashed from over 50% to about 35% pressure could build for a confidence vote.
The results in France were possibly more dramatic:
FRANCE 24 – Breaking @BreakingF24
 BREAKING - EU elections: Le Pen’s far right leads with 31.5% of vote in France, Macron’s party trails at 15.2% (exit polls)
BREAKING - French President Emmanuel Macron calls new parliamentary elections https://f24.my/AOH2.x
In Poland, Tusk’s party leads comfortably, about 38-34. Interestingly, in Slovakia, Fico’s party lost to the liberals.
In Spain the Conservatives are leading, but the EU vote collapsed by 11 points to only 38%.
Overall, it’s hard to see much in the way of a new direction. No doubt there will be any amount of hand wringing, but in the end it still looks like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic—or something like that.
Next up: the UK.
“In his broadcast, Macron lamented the rise of nationalism and said the election was “not a good result for the parties defending Europe. I therefore cannot act as if nothing has happened.” Remix News. In his typically tin-ear, tone-deaf fashion, Microbe completely misinterprets the results of Sunday’s EU parliamentary elections. The parties defending “Europe?” But what Europe? The Europe that issues endless diktats on the size of buttonholes, or a “Europe of nations,” of sovereign states, as De Gaulle envisioned? The EU, like our Paris on the Potomac, has become a regulatory behemoth, as we know, and more than ever engaged in censoring the free flow of news and information. Add to that the insecurity issue, felt by many in France (not so much in the heart of Paris - yet - ) and you have a heady mix of “raz-le-bol” (kinda like the “I can’t take it anymore!” scene in “Network”) of regular French. So back to the polls…the petty tyrant has just suffered a further humiliation - let’s hope he doesn’t take it out on his bête noire in Moscow.
I love your title, Mark. Yes, once we define what the "Right" is in Europe, what "surges" means, and what the implications are, everything will be crystal clear.
The practical impact remains to be seen but I AM heartened that this is a legitimate recording of the legitimate views of the populace which cannot be gaslighted by politicians or pretended away by the media. It is an on the record rejection of Macron and Scholz and the rest of the warmongers and third-world immigration champions. It all may be too late and its effect may be mitigated by the parliamentary and elections systems in Europe. But none of these "leaders" can now claim to have the support of the people. It is a good day(s).
I would like to know specifically how much Macron's threats to send the French army into Ukraine caused the negative vote against him. I don't suppose the exit polls directly addressed that.