A new map has revealed which European countries have seen far-right political parties succeed in three days of voting for the European Parliament.
According to Europe Elects, France has seen a 31 percent increase in popularity amongst what they call “right-wing ID groups”. Austria is the other country that has experienced this trend, with an uptick of 26 percent.
They have also identified “centre-right EPP groups”, which have been succeeding in Spain (34 percent), Germany (31 percent), Poland (37 percent), Latvia (35 percent), Slovenia (46 percent), Croatia (35 percent), Greece (28 percent), and Cyprus (25 percent).
Finally, “national-conservative ECR groups” have seen their popularity rise in two countries: Italy (by 29 percent) and Czeck Republic (by 33 percent).
So far in the 2024 European Parliament election, right-wing ID groups have gained 64 seats, an increase of five from the 2019 result.
Centre-right EPP groups have won 188 seats (an icrease of 10) and national-conservative ECR groups have won 81 (an increase of 13.
Pawel Zerca, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said there has been “a rightward shift in the European Parliament”, which he said was “the key outcome of the election”.
He added: “The biggest winners of this election are the two families of the radical right. This shift could impact policies on climate, migration, enlargement, budget, and rule of law if right-wing parties collaborate.”
Zerca warned of “growing divisions and even chaos” within the European Parliament and the European Council, “which threatens European unity and capacity to achieve compromises”.
In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party won 31.5 percent of the vote, prompting Emmanuel Macron to call a snap election in four weeks’ time.
The National Rally party managed to beat the Besoin d’Europe alliance, which includes Macron’s Renaissance party, by more than double the votes.
In Austria, the Freedom Party (FPÖ) won 25.5 percent of the votes, beating out the conservative People’s Party (24.7 percent) and the Social Democrats (23.3 percent).
Elsewhere, the right-wing populist Brothers of Italy party won 28.8 percent of the vote – quadruple what it got in 2019 – and the right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AFD) won 16.2 percent.