European election results are trickling in this morning, with far-right parties making gains in the European Parliament.
Nationalist
parties have capitalised on voter
disquiet over spiralling prices, migration and the cost of the
green transition.
In previous elections, these parties talked of
leaving the European Union or its single currency, echoing the
calls of British Brexiteers, but now it appears they want to influence
it from within.Â
Italy: Prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s far-right party won European elections in Italy with 28% of the votes, according to public broadcaster RAI.
Centre-left opposition Democratic Party (PD) was second with 23.7%.
France: Marine Le Pen’s hard right Nationally Rally is projected to win 32% of the vote, with Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance Party at 15%.
Germany: While the conservative CDU came out on top with 30%, the Alternative for Germany (AfD), an extreme right party hounded by scandal, rallied enough seats to sweep past Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ Social Democrats. Projections indicate AfD will win 16.5%, up from 11% in 2019.Â
Netherlands: The left-wing GroenLinks-PvdA won the largest number of seats – eight – butGeert Wilders’ far-right, anti-immigration Party for Freedom made the biggest gains with six seats, up from one in the last European parliament.
But the far-right has not been successful across the board. In Poland, prime minister Donald Tusk’s Civic Coalition came first with 37.1%, while the main opposition party, the nationalist Law and Justice, had 36.2%.
The far-right Confederation party had 12.1% of the vote.