EU election results
Voters in the 27 countries of the European Union delivered a clear shift to the right in the European Parliament election, with gains for the centre-right and nationalists and a crushing defeat for French President Emmanuel Macron's party..
The parliament has for the past five years been governed by a three-group majority of the centre-right European People's Party, centre-left Socialists and Democrats and liberals or Renew Europe.
Together they have steered EU policy, which has included the Green Deal and the EU response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and divided between them top jobs at EU institutions.
The groups appear on course for a renewed majority, albeit smaller than before, with each party group set to have one of the top jobs.
The following are projected results of the new EU parliament:
The latest seat projection by the European Parliament showed the centre-right European People’s Party reinforcing is status as the biggest group of lawmakers and hard-right groups also adding seats. By contrast, the Greens, lost notably in Germany, and the liberal Renew Europe also shrunk as Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National trounced Macron’s Renaissance party, prompting him to call a snap parliamentary election. It was also a bad result for German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s social democrats.
Parliament groups
Most members of the European Parliament (MEPs) sit in groups based on their political affiliations. They need to have at least 23 MEPs from seven EU countries. Groups receive a share of EU funding of more than 40 million euros based on their size and their representatives get to speak first in parliamentary debates. The outgoing parliament had seven groups. There is likely to be some shake-up before the parliament sits again on July 16, particularly among hard-right groups.
European People’s Party
The centre-right group remained the largest in the European Parliament, dominated by German Christian Democrats, followed by lawmakers from Poland and Spain. The group has forged an alliance with the socialists and liberal Renew Europe for the past five years, dividing up senior posts and driving through policies such as the “Green Deal”. But it became more sceptical towards the green push in the lead-up to the EU assembly election.
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats
The centre-left group was again the second-biggest in the European Parliament, with its largest bloc of MEPs from Italy and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez's Socialist Workers Party. It became the focus of the Qatargate cash-for-lobbying scandal in late 2022 after the arrest of some of its MEPs and staff. It says its priority is to fight unemployment and make societies fairer.
Renew Europe
The third group in the previous governing coalition, and likely to be part of the coalition again, which had been very much dominated by French President Emmanuel Macron's Renaissance party, which is expected to be a distant second to Marine Le Pen's far-right Rassemblement National (National Rally) in France. Macron’s party will again be the biggest party in the unapologetically pro-European Renew, but there is now a greater balance with members from the Czech Republic, the Netherlands and Slovakia.
Greens / European Free Alliance
The party still dominated by Germany's Greens can claim success in the past legislature with the EU Green Deal fight against climate change despite not being part of the three-group majority. Buoyed in 2019 by a multitude of school climate protests, they lost seats this time around as voters see more clearly the cost of the green transition. The group says the next five years are crucial for the EU's green economy transformation.
The Left
The Left, including MEPs from La France Insoumise (France Unbowed), Spain's Podemos Unida and Germany's Die Linke, prioritises workers' rights and economic justice, equality for women and minorities. A new German leftist breakaway by former Die Linke co-chair Sahra Wagenknecht adds uncertainty this time around to the group's prospects. It has not declared itself affiliated to any group yet.
European Conservatives and Reformists
Once the home of Britain's Conservative Party, the hard right ECR will now be dominated the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy), who were among biggest winners in the election. The other main party is Poland's eurosceptic Law and Justice (PiS), which battled with Brussels when in government until late 2023. Still hardline on migration and believing the EU has overreached, Meloni has shown greater willingness to cooperate with others in the EU, meaning the ECR could play a greater role in the new parliament.
Identity and Democracy
The furthest right group in parliament, with France's Rassemblement National (RN), were among the winners in the election as voters frustrated over a cost of living and energy crisis and migration drift from mainstream parties. RN will have half their seats as Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s Lega dropped back.
The group expelled Alternative for Germany after the German party's lead candidate Maximilian Krah, whose aide has been charged with spying for China, said that the Nazi's Waffen SS were “not all criminals”. AfD lawmaker have since excluded Krah from their delegation.
The ID's opponents have also charged them with serving Russian interests, with calls for the West to stop arming Ukraine.
Results by country
By
Philip Blenkinsop and Jon McClure
Lead photo
People walk near a sign for the upcoming European elections, at the EU Parliament in Brussels, Belgium May 23, 2024. REUTERS/Johanna Geron
Data source