The elections to the European Parliament (EP), which began on 6 June, ended yesterday, 9 June.
In contrast to previous elections, the European People’s Party (EPP), led by the German Christian Democrats, remained in first place in the elections, which attracted considerable interest both inside and outside the EU.
The ‘centre-right’ EPP, which includes European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, is expected to continue governing the EP together with the Social Democrats and Liberals. Indeed, EPP leader Manfred Weber said immediately after the first results that the ‘stability’ of the EU would be ‘endangered’ if Leyen did not continue as president,
In the 720-member EP, the EPP won 184 seats, with an increase of 8 MEPs. It was followed by the progressive alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), which won the same number of MEPs as in 2019 (139). The liberal Renew group, to which French leader Emmanuel Macron’s party belongs, was the biggest loser, with 80 seats, 22 fewer than in 2019.
These three groups were the ‘government’ in the previous EP, having secured a majority.
The other big losers were the Greens with 19 seats (52 in total), while the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and Identity and Democracy (ID), to the right of the EPP, continued their rise with 73 and 58 seats respectively. Girogia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy in the ECR and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) in the ID were the clear national winners.
Other winners were parties without a group in the EP or newcomers to the elections. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) came second in Germany with 16.2% of the vote, while another non-aligned party, Hungary’s ruling Fidesz, came first. In Germany, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance (BSW), which broke away from the Left Party (Die Linke), also got off to a fast start with around 6 per cent of the vote in its first election.
National nuances
In Germany, especially in the former GDR, the AfD was the clear winner with around 27 per cent of the vote. In the east it was followed by the CDU with around 21 per cent and the BSW with around 14 per cent.
In the west, however, the CDU-CSU swept the ‘traffic light’ coalition government (SPD-Greens-FDP).
In France, the RN’s doubling of the ruling Renaissance party prompted Macron to dissolve parliament and call early elections. I can’t pretend that nothing has happened,’ Macron said in his statement, arguing that rising nationalism is a threat to Europe.
Meanwhile in France, Jean-Luc Melenchon’s Unyielding France (LFI), which opposes the war in Gaza and Ukraine, increased its share of the vote to 10 per cent.
In Austria, the Freedom Party (FPÖ), which is part of the ID, came first, while the People’s Party (ÖVP), which is part of the EPP, came second. The Social Democrats came third and the Greens fourth.
In Belgium, too, the votes were divided among the right. The ID member Vlaams Belang (VB) came first with 13.9% of the vote, while the liberal Renew member Reform Movement came second with 13.5%. The separatist New Flemish Alliance, a member of the ECR, came third with 13.39%.
In the Netherlands, the Green-Labour alliance came first with 21.6%, Geert Wilders’ ID-member Party for Freedom (PVV) came second with 17.7% and the EPP-member VVD came third with 11.6%.
In Italy, Meloni’s ECR member Brothers of Italy (FdI) came first with 26.6% of the vote, while coalition partners Lega (ID) and Forza Italia (EPP) remained on 8.8%. The Democratic Party (PD) came second with 25.5% and the 5 Star Movement third with 9.6%.
In Spain, the People’s Party (EPP) came first with 34.2% and the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party 30.1%. The right-wing ECR member Vox came third with 9.6% of the vote, while the left-wing platform Sumar won 4.6%.
In Portugal, the Socialist Party came first with 32.1 per cent, the Democratic Alliance second with 31.1 per cent and the right-wing Chega, a member of the ID, third with 9.8 per cent.
In Sweden, the Social Democrats came first with 24.9%. The moderate Union Party came second with 17.5%, the Greens third with 13.8% and the right-wing Sweden Democrats fourth with 13.2%.
In Finland, the National Coalition Party, a member of the EPP, came first with 24.80 per cent. In Denmark, the Socialist People’s Party came first with 17.4%, followed by the Social Democrats with 15.6%.
In Greece, the ruling New Democracy (ND) remained in first place with 28 per cent of the vote, despite a significant loss of votes. Syriza came second with 14.9 per cent, PASOK third with 12.8 per cent, Greek Solution fourth with 9.3 per cent and the Communist Party of Greece (KKE) fifth with 9.2 per cent.
In Poland, the ruling coalition Civic Platform (KO), an EPP member, came first, while the former ruling party and ECR member Law and Justice (PiS) came second. The right-wing Confederation, which does not belong to any EP group, came third with 11%.
In Hungary, too, the independent governing party Fidesz came first, despite a large loss of votes. The new ‘centre-right’ party Tisza, founded by former Fidesz member Peter Magyar, was a big surprise, coming second with almost 30% of the vote.
The national parties with the most seats in the EP are
In the EPP, which won 191 seats, the largest group will be the German CDU with 23 seats.
In the S&D, which won 137 seats, the largest group will be the Italian PD with 20 seats.
In Renew, which won 85 seats, the largest group will be the French Renaissance with 7 seats.
In the ECR, which won 78 seats, the largest group will be the Italian FdI with 23 seats.
In the ID, which won 62 seats, the largest group will be the French RN with 30 seats.
In the Greens/EFA, which won 52 seats, the largest group will be the German Greens with 12 seats.
With 39 seats, the largest group on the left will be the French LFI with 8 seats.
