Far-right gains in EU election deal stunning defeats to France’s Macron and Germany’s Scholz
- Europe’s far-right parties were winners in many places, coming out on top in France and Italy, while Germany’s AfD surged to second spot
On a night where the 27-member bloc palpably shifted to the right, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni more than doubled her seats in the EU parliament.
And even if the Alternative for Germany extreme right party was hounded by scandal involving candidates, it still rallied enough seats to sweep past the slumping Social Democrats of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
Sensing a threat from the far-right, the Christian Democrats of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had already shifted further to the right on migration and climate ahead of the elections – and were rewarded by remaining by far the biggest group in the 720-seat European Parliament and de facto brokers of the ever expanding powers of the legislature.
Undoubtedly however, the star on a stunning electoral night was the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen, dominated the French polls to such an extent that Macron immediately dissolved the national parliament and called for new elections.
