Conservatives are gaining significant ground in Europe, following the weekend’s European Union (EU) elections. All 27 EU member states hosted elections over the weekend (June 6-9) for the European Parliament and some countries also hosted local elections. While votes are still being counted across the continent, early projections are showing conservative parties and candidates gaining significant ground, with centrist parties making minimal gains and left-wing parties suffering moderate to significant losses so far.
The establishment centrist-conservative European People’s Party (EPP) is slated to maintain its majority in the European Parliament with at least 400 seats out of 720, but has only picked up 10 seats so far, compared to smaller social conservative parties, which made significant inroads, especially in left-wing strongholds like France and Germany. Major left-wing parties, like the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), the far-left group known simply as The Left, and climate change-focused parties lost seats, most of which have been picked up by conservative factions.
In France, left-wing president Emmanuel Macron called a snap national election after the conservative nationalist party National Rally (RN) earned a staggering 31% of the vote in the EU elections, crushing Macron’s own Renaissance party, which barely cleared 15% of the vote. “This unprecedented defeat for the current government marks the end of a cycle, and Day 1 of the post-Macron era,” RN leader Jordan Bardella declared in a victory speech. The conservative leader called the EU election results a “stinging disavowal” of Macron’s left-wing leadership and the left-leaning policies of the European Parliament.
Macron’s decision to dissolve the French parliament and call a snap election at the end of the month has been described as a ploy to maintain a left-leaning majority in the French legislature. “The rise of nationalists and demagogues is a danger for our nation and for Europe,” Macron claimed. “After this day, I cannot go on as though nothing has happened.”
“We are ready to take power if the French place their trust in us,” quipped Marine Le Pen, Macron’s prior rival for the French presidency and the current parliamentary leader of RN. “We are ready to rebuild the country, ready to defend the interests of the French, ready to put an end to mass immigration, ready to make the purchasing power of the French a priority, ready to begin the reindustrialization of the country.” Le Pen told supporters, “After the legislative elections of 2022, which designated the National Rally Party as the main parliamentary opponent, these European elections confirm our movement as the major force for change in France.”
In Germany, the establishment centrist-conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) took around 30% of the vote, while Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s reigning coalition parties suffered significant losses. Scholz’s party, the Social Democrats, achieved a mere 14%, which the Associated Press noted is the party’s “worst post-World War II result in a nationwide vote.” The other parties comprising Scholz’s coalition government, the Greens and the Free Democrats, clocked in with 12% and 5% support respectively. The hardline conservative Alternative for Germany (AfD) made an impressive showing with over 16% of the vote, despite a series of smear campaigns leveled against the party over the past few years, including being officially labeled an “extremist” group by the German government. AfD co-chair Alice Weidel called for a snap election after the weekend’s decided conservative victory, arguing that voters are “fed up” with the reign of left-wing policies.
Spain’s socialist government also suffered a defeat, earning only 30% of the vote against the conservative People’s Party, which garnered nearly 35%. Other hardline conservative parties, Vox and Se Acabó La Fiesta (The Party’s Over), earned a combined 14.2% of the vote. In Austria, the right-wing Freedom Party garnered a solid 25.7% of the vote, followed by the establishment conservative Austrian People’s Party at 24.7%, the leftist Social Democrats at 23.2%, and the Greens at less than 11%.
Conservative parties are also predicted to enjoy major victories in Belgium, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, and Slovenia. Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo’s leftist factions lost the weekend’s elections by such a wide margin that he announced his formal resignation. Yolanda Díaz, deputy Prime Minister of Spain’s socialist government, also announced she would be resigning, following the humiliating defeat of her left-wing Sumar party, which garnered only 4% of the national vote.
Surprisingly, leftists won in Poland, though only by a narrow margin. Former Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a longtime EU bureaucrat, won reelection with a left-of-center coalition late last year, ousting the ruling Law and Justice (Prawo i Sprawiedliwosc or PiS) party, a mainstream conservative group committed to Polish nationalism and Catholic moral teachings. Tusk’s Civic Coalition narrowly won the most votes (37%) over the weekend, followed closely by PiS (36.2%). The hardline conservative nationalist Confederation party earned over 12% of the vote, its best showing in elections yet. Confederation is staunchly opposed to abortion, liberalized immigration, and globalist EU policies, especially those concerning climate change.
Despite the gains made by conservative groups in the elections, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, a member of both the EPP and the CDU, pledged to seek support from socialists before turning to conservative parties she branded as “far-right.” Von der Leyen boasted Monday morning, “We will and can form a bastion against the extremes of left and right together.”
Some EU member states, such as Ireland, are still counting votes. Only 12 of 27 countries have officially finished counting votes as of 12:00 pm EST.
S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.
