Insurrecto-splaining Euroskeptic fever breaking out in European Parliament elections
on May 25, 2014
7 Comments
It's too simple to say that "far right" or "fascist" parties did well in the European Parliament elections. It does seem clear that "Euroskeptic" parties on the right and left did well.
Seems to me that what you are seeing is the long-awaited centrifugal forces of the EU showing the inherent instability of trying to unite countries with such disparate interests.
Anti-immigrant sentiment also seems to be part of the equation in some countries, particularly France.
Here's how The Wall Street Journal describes the outcome:
Anti-European Union and far-right parties posted strong gains in elections to the European Parliament in some countries on Sunday, tapping into voter anger over economic austerity and delivering a blow to institutions in Brussels, national governments and mainstream political parties. Anti-EU parties won the biggest share of the vote in France—where more than a quarter of votes were cast for the far-right National Front—Greece and Denmark. They also made a strong showing in the U.K. and Italy. Overall, centrist, pro-European parties are still expected to hold a broad majority of the 751 seats the new legislature, which decides on EU laws together with national governments. But euroskeptic and anti-EU lawmakers could complicate passing measures on which mainstream parties are divided, including a planned free-trade deal with the U.S.At the bottom of the post is a widget that reflects official results EU-wide for various parties (go here for results including by country). In certain countries, the "right" certainly did well, most notably France. Here's how The Telegraph describes today's voting results in France:
