Nationalist, eurosceptic parties came first in three of the 'Big Four' EU countries
It's difficult to gauge the impact of elections to the European Parliament (EP) on politics in Europe, primarily because the EP was designed to not have much of an impact on politics in Europe. Voters know this, which is why overall turnout at EP elections has fallen at every consecutive election since high interest in the first EU-wide vote in 1979. However, this year turnout rose for the first time, to 52%, and it comes at a time when the Parliament's powers are expanding to,
de facto, take on the ability to propose legislation.
The overall result from this weekend's voting is being spun in the media as the successful arrest of 'populist' anti-EU parties. However, it's noteworthy that the two biggest voting blocs (the centre-right coalition of nominally conservative parties, and the nominally centre-left coalition of socialist/democratic parties) have, for the first time in 40 years, lost their (combined) traditional majority.
Not that they're not going to lose any sleep over that though: the 'traditional centre' can rely on new allies because the Green and Liberal blocs increased their share of seats. This means that, in the coming 5-year term, the 'majority vote' at the EU level will be more of the same 'neo-liberal centrism', only 'leftier' - so, expect more corporatism, more 'saving the planet', and much more 'social justice'.
BBC has a useful breakdown of results by country here
Comment: This article is the second in a series. For part 3, go here:
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