[ad_1]
BRUSSELS (AP) – From Germany to France, via Cyprus and Estonia, voters from 21 nations went to the polls Sunday on the last day of a crucial election in Parliament that could allow far-right, nationalist and populist movements to rise over much of the continent.
The four-day voting that began Thursday in the 28 countries of the European Union has pitted supporters of closer unity with those who view the EU as an awkward and bureaucratic presence and want to make power to national governments and strongly restrict immigration.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, considered a unifying force among extremist anti-immigrant nationalists, said he felt "a change in the air" and that it was victory of his right wing party, the League, "would change everything in Europe."
The first comprehensive results were expected overnight from what was considered the most important election in the European Parliament in decades, a competition that could radically change EU policies. It is estimated that 426 million people are eligible to vote.
The main center-right and center-left parties were supposed to retain power in the 751-seat legislature in Brussels and Strasbourg. But the nationalist and populist parties hostile to the EU had to make significant gains that could complicate the functioning of Parliament.
In the first big exit poll in Germany, the largest country in the EU, the parties in power would lose ground while the Greens were going to have big gains. The far right also needed more support.
"I do not wish that a right-wing populist Europe wants to destroy the idea of union," said German Manfred Weber, the main candidate of the Christian Center-democratic EPP group, currently the most important of the legislature.
The increasingly authoritarian Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, a possible ally of Salvini, said he hoped the elections would bring about a change of party in favor of political parties wishing to end migration. The issue of migration "will reorganize the political spectrum in the European Union," he said.
Due to the stakes, turnout appeared to be higher than usual Sunday afternoon in Spain, France and Germany. The trend has been declining since the first elections in 1979 and was less than 43% five years ago.
In France, the Ministry of Interior stated that the participation rate was above 43% at 17 hours, compared to 35% at the same time in 2014. Several French survey institutes estimated that the final participation rate could be over 50% at the end of the day. a first in the country since 1994.
The EU and its Parliament define the continent's trade policy, regulate agriculture, monitor antitrust enforcement and set monetary policy for 19 of the 28 countries sharing the euro currency.
Italy, Poland, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Belgium and Lithuania also voted Sunday.
Britain voted Thursday, taking part in the poll even as it plans to leave the EU, after the government missed the deadline of March 29 to approve the withdrawal conditions. European legislators would lose their jobs right from Brexit.
Europe has been swept away in recent years by immigration from the Middle East and Africa and the deadly attacks of Islamic extremists. He has also witnessed growing tensions over economic inequality and growing hostility to the political establishment – sentiments similar to those who elected Donald Trump to the United States.
Traditional parties like the EPP and the center-left socialist S & D group want the general public to form a strong coalition to stave off marginal parties. Spanish interim Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called on "all political forces to open a horizon of political stability".
Projections released by the Parliament last month show that the EPP bloc lost 37 seats out of 217 and that the S & D group went from 186 seats out of 149. On the far right flank, the Europe of Nations and Freedom should go from 37 to 62 places.
Proponents of stronger European integration, led by French President Emmanuel Macron, argue that issues such as climate change and immigration control are simply too important for just one country can attack it.
Macron, whose country has been shaken in recent months by the movement of the populist yellow vest, has called the elections "the most important since 1979 because the Union faces an existential risk" on the part of the nationalists seeking to divide the block.
Once the elections are over, European leaders will start selecting candidates for high-level posts at the EU headquarters in Brussels. Leaders meet for a summit Tuesday night. The current mandate of the European legislators ends on July 1 and the new Parliament will sit the next day.
___
Journalists from the Associated Press Lorne Cook, Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria; Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain; Pablo Gorondi in Budapest; and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.
___
For more information from the Associated Press on the European Parliament elections, visit https://www.apnews.com/EuropeanParliament
[ad_2]
Source link