Authors: Philip Blenkinsop and Manuel Oslos
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – Voters across Europe went to the polls on Sunday in European Parliament elections that could shift parliament to the right and increase the number of Eurosceptic nationalists.
The expected shift to the right means Parliament is likely to be less keen on policies to tackle climate change and more keen on measures to limit immigration into the EU, which has 450 million citizens.
Parliament is also likely to be more fragmented, which will make any measures trickier and slower to adopt as the EU faces challenges such as a hostile Russia and growing industrial competition from China and the United States.
“I don’t always agree with the decisions Europe takes,” 89-year-old retiree Paul Richard said after the vote in Paris. “But I still hope there can be a reckoning for all European countries so that Europe can become a unified bloc looking in the same direction.”
Voting begins in the Netherlands on Thursday and in other countries on Friday and Saturday, but the bulk of EU voting will take place on Sunday, with France, Germany, Poland and Spain due to vote, and Italy the following day.
The European Parliament votes on legislation vital to citizens and businesses in the 27-nation EU.
But for years voters across the bloc have complained that EU decision-making is complex, remote and disconnected from day-to-day reality, which explains low turnout in EU elections.
“People don’t know who really has power between the committee and parliament,” Emmanuel, another French voter, said at a polling station north of Paris. “It’s true that it causes problems and breeds mistrust that might not exist today if things were clearer,” the 34-year-old programmer said.
Polls show that the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) is expected to remain the largest party in the European Parliament, with its European Commission presidential candidate and current German Prime Minister Ursula von der Leyen in the lead when it comes to re-election.
However, she may need the support of some right-wing nationalists, such as Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni’s Italian Brotherhood, to secure a parliamentary majority, giving Meloni and her allies more leverage.
Latest polls
Forecasts from European election pollsters on Sunday showed the European People’s Party could gain five seats compared with a total of 183 won in the previous parliament. It is expected to lose 4 seats and gain 136 seats.
The European Green Party, which faces a backlash from financially strapped households, farmers and industry over the high cost of EU policies to limit carbon dioxide emissions, looks set to win just 56 delegates, a drop of 15, Sunday’s poll showed. Be one of the biggest losers.
The liberal group Resurrection Europe’s forecast is also grim, given that Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally will defeat French President Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Ennahda party in France.
Sunday’s poll showed the Renew party had lost 13 seats and was expected to end up with 89 fewer seats.
By comparison, the poll suggests the national conservative ECR may gain five more seats, for a total of 73, while the far-right ID group may gain eight more seats, for a total of 67.
The poll shows that there are currently 79 independent representatives, and more representatives may join right-wing and far-right groups.
The European Parliament will release an EU-wide exit poll around 2030 CET (1830 GMT), followed by the first provisional results following the final vote in Italy at 2300 CET.
Turn right
Many voters have been hit by the cost of living, worried about immigration and the cost of the green transition and uneasy about geopolitical tensions including the war in Ukraine.
Hard-line and far-right parties have seized on this to offer voters an alternative.
“Whoever thinks we need to change course and thinks Brussels can do better, there is only one option,” Jorge Buxade, the leading candidate of Spain’s far-right party, said after the vote in Madrid. Vox.
In the Netherlands, exit polls showed on Thursday that the anti-immigration party led by nationalist Geert Wilders was expected to win the 29-seat EU parliament after a landslide victory in last year’s national election. 7 of the seats, compared with zero seats in 2019.
His Liberal party is just one seat shy of the Social Democrats-Greens coalition’s total.
In Belgium, where voters will also elect federal and regional parliaments on Sunday, the far-right Flemish separatist party Vlaams Belang is expected to win record numbers, although it could still be overtaken by other parties Prevent governance.
