Limited advance of the extreme right in the European elections

The European elections that culminated yesterday in the 28 countries of the European Union have been a real "barometer" of the moods and trends of the continent's electorate. On the one hand, the two dominant parties, the European People's Party (EPP, Christian Democrats and Conservatives) and the Socialists and Democrats (S & D) have lost the absolute majority they historically held in the European Parliament But the Liberals and the Greens have been essential to keeping off the advanced advance of the far right. The nationalist and anti-European right has won in France and Italy, in addition to Belgium and Hungary, as well as in the United Kingdom. Angela Merkel's democracies have held up well in Germany, the country with the most seats in the European Parliament, but the German Social Democrat SPD collapsed to third place. In Spain, the socialist PSOE shone (see page 24), an exception in the European panorama. In the British case, yesterday's British elections were atypical: the country is leaving Europe for Brexit and until recently, it was not even likely to vote.

Final figures

In the final account, the "popular" won the European elections and got 178 deputies, 39 less than in the previous term, and the Social Democrats have chosen 152 representatives, losing 35 deputies. The Alliance of European Liberals and Democrats (ALDE) regained third place with 108 MPs, 40 more than in the previous European Parliament. Ecologists, meanwhile, will have 67 deputies, a growth of 15 seats. These two formations "saved the clothes" in a certain way before the relative fall of the Christian Democrats of the PP and the generalized fall of the Socialists, with the exception of Spain and Portugal.

The far right seems very divided in the Europarlamento. On the one hand, the European Union of Nations and Freedoms (55), of which the British UKIP and Matteo Salvini's League belong, and separately the European Union of Freedom and Democracy direct (53). ), in which is inscribed the French of Marine Le Pen.

In France, Marine Le Pen called on President Emmanuel Macron to dissolve the National Assembly (parliament) and to call new elections "to know the real opinion of the country" after having beaten him. "Draw the conclusions because he put his presidential credit in a referendum on his policy and on his person", and now "there is no choice but to dissolve the National Assembly" said Le Pen. The French punish Macron for the first electoral defeat of his career and reward Le Pen with a victory that reaffirms it as a central force. But the National Regroupement (RN), the new name of the former National Front, has won without being as good as in 2014. The RN has now reached 23% against 22% of Macronismo. Nothing approves the requirements of Le Pen's elections, especially because in France, Europeans have the habit of "hitting" the party in power.

In Italy, things were much clearer. The league, of the vice-president Matteo Salvini, obtained 32.67%, very far from the others. With this result, the league becomes the first match in Italy, something she had never achieved in nearly 30 years. The Social Democratic Party (PD) came in second with nearly 25% of the vote, a good performance for the party of former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. The League's ruling partners, the Five Star Movement, received nearly 17% of their previous votes. No doubt that Le Pen and Salvini have been firmly recognized as leaders of the European far right.

In Germany, the far right of the AfD has improved compared to 2014, but had to settle for just over 10%. Far from being able to imitate Le Pen or Salvini. The Christian Democrats of Angela Merkel retained the lead with 29% of the vote. The Greens (21%) achieved a second historic place, surpbading the Social Democrats (15%), who are part of the Merkel government coalition. In the Netherlands (Netherlands), the Forum for Democracy (FVD) won 11%, ahead of the right-wing party Geert Wilders who, with his Freedom Party, has dominated eurosceptic positions in recent years. In Holland, social democracy prevailed, but only with 19% of the votes.

The extreme right is gaining ground in Sweden, where the Swedish Democrats have won second place with 17% of the vote, while in Belgium the main news has given the flamenco party Vlaams Belang, who shot 11.5%, relegating to socialism to power.

In Eastern Europe, Hungary and Poland have confirmed the prevalence of a right which, even if it can not be badimilated linearly to the far right, is increasingly away from the conservatives of the European PP. The Hungarian Fidesz party consolidated its power by winning more than half the vote. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, currently a member of the European People's Party (EPP), has strengthened his ties with Salvini. In Poland, the winner was the party in power, the party of law and justice (PiS, 43%), also interviewed in Brussels. The ruling party avoided the "sorpbado" of an opposition coalition which, under the banner of Europeanism, had won 38.5% of the vote.

In short, the strength of the far-right anti-European electoral bloc can not be doubted, but its candidates did not sink the conservative or centrist parties that confronted them, while the Liberals and the ecologists have developed. The collapse of the Social Democrats remains the main alarm factor, as it leaves an electorate orphaned adrift.