Europeans rebuke the European Union
The results of the weekend’s European Parliament elections may not have been entirely surprising, but they’re a shock to Europe’s system nonetheless. So-called euroskeptic parties notched their best results to date in Continent-wide polls. This doesn’t mean Europeans don’t want the European Union, but it does signify they want an EU that serves them better.
Voters across the 27-country bloc elected 720 members of the European Parliament. Votes still were being tallied as we published, but it’s clear that parties of the right have performed particularly well. The biggest winner is likely to be the European People’s Party, the EU-level coalition of national center-right parties such as Germany’s Christian Democratic Union and Spain’s Popular Party.
The EPP is on track to form a plurality in the incoming parliament, as it did in the last one. The other winners are the hodgepodge of parties and politicians often (and often misleadingly) described as far right or populist right. France’s Marine Le Pen is the star of this show.
Her National Rally won nearly one-third of the vote, more than the combined share of President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance and the Socialist Party’s coalition. The drubbing led Mr. Macron to call a snap legislative election, which may end with him governing alongside a majority for Ms.
Le Pen’s party in the parliament. This result is triggering the usual hyperventilation that wins for such parties herald the march of fascist jackboots in the streets. European voters are smarter than that.
Parties of the right that won did so by moving toward the center on many issues. Ms. Le Pen no longer vocally opposes the euro currency.
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