INEWS
The European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen wasted no time in celebrating the first place that her centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) took in Sunday’s EU parliamentary elections.
But the real winner was the motley assembly of far-right groups who humiliated the political establishment in France and Germany, and underlined the hard right’s growing hold over Italian politics.
Far-right and hard-right groups appear to have won almost a quarter of the seats, up from a fifth at the last elections.
The biggest shockwave was felt in France. President Emmanuel Macron called snap national elections after Marine Le Pen‘s far-right National Rally humiliated his pro-European centrists in the polls by gaining twice as much of the vote.
In Italy, the party of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, which has neo-fascist roots, won more than 28 per cent of the national vote for the European Parliament, which would make it a key player in forming future alliances.
Meanwhile, ultra-conservative and nationalist parties seem to have won or made significant gains in Austria, Cyprus, Greece and the Netherlands.
