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Macron gambles on a snap election
French President Emmanuel Macron has dissolved parliament in what’s called a snap parliamentary election that will begin later this month after his centrist Renaissance party and its allies earned less than half the votes of the country's right-wing National Rally party. Macron announced his decision late Sunday night in a televised address, saying he "cannot act as if nothing had happened."EUROPE
Politicians are facing increasing attacks in the run-up to a new European parliament
As the country's president, Macron will remain in office till the end of his term, but if the hard-right populist National Rally party wins a majority in the French parliament, he could be forced to work alongside a political opponent as prime minister. The far-right party's candidate for prime minister, Jordan Bardella, is just 28 years old.On social media, Macron wrote Monday morning that he has "confidence in the ability of the French people to make the fairest choice for themselves and for future generations."
One French newspaper described Macron's decision as a "pari extreme" — an extreme gamble.
Far right also advances in Italy, Germany and Austria
Italy's populist far-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni saw the vote share of her Brothers of Italy party quadruple since the last European parliamentary elections in 2019. Despite low turnout, she saw her share of the vote in Italy improve over 2022, when she came to power at the head of a right-wing coalition.Sponsor Message
Meloni’s nearest rivals, the Democratic Party, trailed by several points and political analysts say this result could strengthen her hand when it comes to domestic policy-making and buoy her international standing as she prepares to host G7 leaders near the southern city of Bari later this month.
Meanwhile, in Austria, the far-right Freedom Party narrowly outperformed its conservative rivals, the People's Party, with the country's social democrats trailing with the third largest share of the the vote.
In Germany, the Social Democrats — or SPD — led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz, performed poorly, with the opposition conservatives — or CDU — that was once led by his predecessor Angela Merkel winning the largest share, and the far-right Alternative for Germany — or AfD — party winning the country's second-largest share, with big gains in the country's east and among younger voters.
The Belgian liberal Premier Alexander De Croo surprised his country by resigning after a national party called the New-Flemish Alliance performed successfully in the EU vote as well as in local and regional elections that were held simultaneously.
Centrist parties retain largest blocs in EU Parliament
Despite the success of far-right parties in several nations, the center-left and center-right political groupings that have historically dominated the European parliament retained the largest two blocs in the Brussels-based legislature, with the center-right European People's Party — or EPP — increasing its seat count. Ursula von der Leyen, the current president of the European Commission — the executive branch of the European Union — belongs to that EPP group and as vote counting continued she remarked that the continent's political center was holding.In Spain, the center-right conservative People's Party narrowly defeated the Socialists led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, with Vox, the country's far-right party, performing less than it had hoped for.
In Poland, one of the continent's other large economies, another former senior leader on the European stage, Donald Tusk, who has returned to his country's domestic politics as a centrist prime minister, saw his party and its coalition partners perform well in a narrow defeat for the country's right-wing Law and Justice party — or PiS — that had for many years dominated these European parliamentary votes. The PiS is one of several political movements across Europe to have challenged the European Union's role in domestic policy-makin...
