The extreme right advances in the elections to the European Parliament, but the center remains standing

() – Far-right parties are expected to win a record number of seats in the European Parliament, a result that, if confirmed, would deal a blow to the political mainstream in Brussels and add uncertainty to the future direction of Europe.

After three days of voting in the 27 member states of the European Union, an exit poll showed that far-right parties were set to win about 150 of the 720 seats in Parliament, which is likely to make it difficult for mainstream parties to win. formation of the majorities necessary to approve laws.

In a speech delivered late on Sunday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the results showed that her European People’s Party (EPP) – expected to have the most votes – could continue to act as an “anchor of stability.” , but asked his political allies to help protect himself from extremist parties.

“The center remains. But it is also true that the extremes of the left and the right have gained support, and that is why the result carries great responsibility for the center parties,” Von de Leyen said in Brussels.

The full results are known this Monday, when the coalition-building process begins in which European centrists will try to put aside their differences to confront the resurgence of the far right.

Most of the far-right’s gains were concentrated in countries that elect a large number of seats: France, Italy and Germany.

After an exit poll showed that Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) party would prevail over its own candidates, French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved his parliament and called a risky early election. whose first round will be held on June 30.

The first results show that RN has obtained 31.5% of the votes, more than double that of Macron’s Renaissance Party, which came second with 15.2% of the votes, just ahead of the Socialists, third with 14.3%.

In a celebratory speech at RN headquarters before Macron’s surprise announcement, party leader Jordan Bardella said the “unprecedented defeat of the current government marks the end of a cycle, and the first day of the post- -Macron.”

Like Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz also suffered a severe blow in the exit polls, as his Social Democrats (SD) obtained the worst result in their history with 14%, while the majority party Christian Democrats (CDU) took the lead with 29.5% of the votes and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) came second with 16.5%.

Although the results will set the political course of the European Union for the next five years, these national elections are often seen as a de facto referendum on incumbent national governments, which could pose a problem for Macron in the 2027 French presidential election and for Scholz in next year’s German federal elections.

Much has changed in Europe since the last parliamentary elections in 2019, after Britain left the bloc in 2020 and Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, putting much of the continent on a war footing as it tried to send desperately needed supplies to Kyiv. and member states shored up their own defences.

“Of course, these elections do not take place in a vacuum. The world around us is in convulsion. External and internal forces are trying to destabilize our societies and weaken Europe,” declared Von der Leyen.

Although the rise of the far-right may further complicate Brussels’ bid for unity, far-right parties themselves remain relatively divided. The AfD has no political roof: it distanced itself from the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) party after its main European candidate, Maximilian Krah, said that he did not consider all members of the Nazi SS group criminals. Other far-right parties are part of the Non-Aligned (NI) group, which would obtain 45 seats.

Responding to the exit poll, Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, said the results showed that the political class in Brussels needed to “understand how people have voted” and make decisions “that have an impact on the daily lives of people.” the citizens.”

“We can see that the constructive and pro-European center has been maintained,” he said, but stressed that there remains “the responsibility of the groups to come together to form a majority.”

– ‘s Niamh Kennedy and Billy Stockwell contributed to this report.