The EU Elections 2024 concluded on Sunday and the provisional results for the European parliament has caused shockwaves across the regional bloc. As per the exit polls and first round of provisional results, the far-right parties across the 27 nations have made huge gains.
In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni emerged as a kingmaker after receiving around 28 percent of votes. Meanwhile, in France, a shocked Macron called for snap elections after the National Rally recorded around 31 percent of votes.
EU Election 2024 Results: Giorgia Meloni Emerges As Kingmaker
Giorgia Meloni, whose Brothers of Italy party is part of the ECR in the European Parliament, rose to the top once again. With the weekend vote, Meloni's position bolstered as she received 28.59 percent of the votes in Italy.
In the 2022 general elections, the Brothers of Italy party received around 26 percent of the votes. Hence, with the EU Elections, the ruling party has also strengthened its domestic standing.
With Meloni's victory, the Italian PM has established herself as the kingmaker of the next EU parliament as both European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen of the centre-right European People's Party and France's far-right Marine Le Pen have reached out for support from the Italian leader.
EU Election Results 2024 - Far Right Make Huge Gains
Hundreds of millions of Europeans head to the polls form June 6 to 9 to elect the next European Parliament. With polls closed, the provisional results for the regional bloc show that the far-right parties have made huge gains this year.
As per the first estimate of the results, the Green and Liberal Renew parties have lost around 20 MEPs each. The collapse of these parties has been associated with the rise of far-right parties across Europe.
In France, far-right party National Rally recieved over 30 percent of the vote, reducing Macron's Renew party to over 14 percent.
The "grim results" of the EU Elections prompted Macron to call for snap elections and dissolve the parliament.
The shift to far-right also brought defeats to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer. Furthermore, the Slovak PM, who is recovering from an assassination attempt, Robert Fico and his Smer party did not win the elections.
With the European People's Party still retaining majority of the seats, the question remains - will the Identity and Democracy (ID) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) unite and form a supergroup.
Despite the surge in far-right copies, left-wing and green parties fared between in the Scandinavian countries. Far-right parties in Sweden, Denmark and Finland saw a drop in their vote share.
