What happened
Far-right parties gained seats in European Parliament elections held in 27 countries, Green parties lost ground and the main center-right and center-left parties won the most votes, according to exit polls and preliminary results released Sunday.
The far right saw its biggest gains in Germany, where the scandal-plagued Alternative for Germany (AfD) party edged past Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats to take second place, and France, where Marine Le Pen's National Rally party crushed Emmanuel Macron's pro-business Renew party so badly, Macron dissolved Parliament and called surprise snap elections.
Who said what
"The center is holding," European Commission President Ursula von Der Leyen said Sunday night. She called her center-right coalition, projected to win a plurality of 184 seats in the 720-seat Parliament, an "anchor of stability" and urged the "parties of the center" to govern together. The center-left Social Democrats won 139 seats, while Renew took third with 79 seats.
"For all the drama in Berlin and especially Paris, the projections of a broader hard-right takeover of the EU" failed to materialize, The Economist said. And in many countries the far right "performed short of expectations." Still, since the last elections in 2019, the "once-fringe hard-right parties have entered the political mainstream in Europe," The Washington Post said.
What next?
The "first test of the weaker centrist majority" will be to elect a new European Commission president in July, The New York Times said. Von der Leyen is expected to seek a second five-year term.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Nnela Kalu’s historic Turner Prize winTalking Point Glasgow-born artist is first person with a learning disability to win Britain’s biggest art prize
-
Bridget Riley: Learning to See – an ‘invigorating and magical ensemble’The Week Recommends The English artist’s striking paintings turn ‘concentration into reverie’
-
‘Stakeknife’: MI5’s man inside the IRAThe Explainer Freddie Scappaticci, implicated in 14 murders and 15 abductions during the Troubles, ‘probably cost more lives than he saved’, investigation claims
-
ECHR: is Europe about to break with convention?Today's Big Question European leaders to look at updating the 75-year-old treaty to help tackle the continent’s migrant wave
-
Moscow cheers Trump’s new ‘America First’ strategyspeed read The president’s national security strategy seeks ‘strategic stability’ with Russia
-
Canada joins EU’s $170B SAFE defense fundspeed read This makes it the first non-European Union country in the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative
-
Trump’s Ukraine peace talks advance amid leaked callSpeed Read Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff is set to visit Russia next week
-
Memo signals Trump review of 233k refugeesSpeed Read The memo also ordered all green card applications for the refugees to be halted
-
Pentagon targets Kelly over ‘illegal orders’ videoSpeed Read The Pentagon threatened to recall Kelly to active duty
-
Judge tosses Trump DOJ cases against Comey, JamesSpeed Read Both cases could potentially be brought again
-
X’s location update exposes international troll industryIn the Spotlight Social media platform’s new transparency feature reveals ‘scope and geographical breadth’ of accounts spreading misinformation
