European Parliament shaken up after election results
Europe has been stunned by unexpected election results, with emerging parties surging to victory in Britain, France, Italy and Poland.
Far-right parties topped the votes in Italy, France, Britain and Poland in the highest voter turnout in 20 years, as leaders rode a wave of anger at EU officials over immigration and economic policies.
However, provisional results show there is little change in the overall balance of power, with socialists, greens, liberals and conservatives maintaining control of 506 of the 751 seats.
The European Parliament represents more than 500 million people in 28 countries.
EU28: Ladies and gentlemen, the new European Parliament!
— Europe Elects (@EuropeElects) May 27, 2019
Details: https://t.co/JaP0MTYOBR
(based on the results of the BBC, the European Parliament website, and based on our research of the future group affiliation of "new" parties entering the European Parliament). #EP2019 pic.twitter.com/WSMfdSRkuB
Italy’s Interior Minister and leader of the far-right League party, Matteo Salvini, scored one third of the national vote and hailed the results by saying “a new Europe is born”.
“Not only is the League the first party in Italy, but also Marine Le Pen is the first party in France, Nigel Farage is the first party in the UK,” he told reporters. “The results confirm our expectations, the celebration won’t be long, it’s time for responsibility.”
Poland’s eurosceptic Law and Justice party won 45 per cent of the national vote, while Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally beat President Emmanuel Macron’s En Marche party by a one point margin, with both scoring 23 seats in the European Parliament.
Ms Le Pen said the result “confirms the new nationalist-globalist division” in France and called for Macron to “dissolve the National Assembly”.
In Germany, far-right party Alternative for Germany emerged as the strongest party in the country’s east, with the Greens winning large support among urban voters.
Overall, the centre-right Christian Democratic Union and the Christian Social Union received the largest share of votes in Germany.
In Britain, Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, which was launched just six weeks ago, scored 36 per cent of the vote with a hardline message to take Britain out of the EU on October 31.
The Liberal Democrats and Greens also gained as projected, while the results were a disaster for the governing Conservative Party that scored less than 10 per cent of the vote.
Mr Farage said it showed a “massive message” for politicians and said his party was ready to stand for a UK general election.
“We want to be part of the negotiating team. We want to take responsibility for what is happening and we’re ready to do so. I hope the Government is listening.
“We’re not just here to leave the European Union but to try and fundamentally change the shape of British politics, bring it into the 21st century and get a parliament that better reflects the country.”
Conservative leadership hopeful Boris Johnson described the result as a “crushing rebuke” for the Government.
“If we go on like this, we will be fired: dismissed from the job of running the country,” he wrote in The Telegraph.
And these are the results for the East German federal district of #Brandenburg, all around Berlin which held also local elections today.
— Julian Röpcke (@JulianRoepcke) May 26, 2019
We are witnessing right-wing extremists and neo-Nazis taking over large eastern parts of our country.#EuropeanElection2019 pic.twitter.com/aI77gWlAkH
Election analysis group Europe Elects posted a graph showing the stunning European election results, writing “Ladies and gentlemen, the new European parliament”.
The results have been met with disbelief across Europe. The Sun in England led with the front page headline “Panic at Farage rout: Brexs*it hits fan”.
Germany’s best-selling newspaper Bild printed an extraordinary front-page commentary with a cut-out of the Jewish symbol kippah, as a sign of solidarity against rising anti-Semitism in Germany.
‘ABSOLUTE TOSH’
It was supposed to be a pointed question that played down one of the most earth-shattering results in the European Parliament elections, but populist Mr Farage was having absolutely none of it.
When the Brexit Party leader — whose party decisively beat both major parties in the UK vote — turned up for an interview on Good Morning Britain, he was asked to look at the results more carefully.
Host Charlotte Hawkins did some hasty maths on the results and used it to claim that parties advocating to remain in the EU actually won the majority — not Mr Farage’s party.
“If you add up all the pro-remain parties they did get a bigger percentage - 35.8 per cent versus the Brexit party 31.6 per cent,” she said.
“So the pro-remain parties altogether did get a bigger percentage.”
However, the question clearly annoyed Mr Farage who blew up immediately — saying pro-EU politicians were just “moaning about every single election which they lose”.
“I’m sorry this is absolute tosh,” he said. “It is not a fact.
“Add up the Brexit vote, add up the UKIP vote, add the Conservative vote, who are still a party that says we are going to leave, and you will find that ‘leave’ beat ‘remain’.
“In fact, what you will find is that overall the country is 52-48 in favour of leaving.
“We are supposed to be a democracy. We were promised this would be implemented.”
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