Elections to the European Parliament: the European People’s Party – the winner will have a clear pro-Ukrainian position

According to the forecast, based on data from 22 EU countries, the EPP receives 189 mandates in the new European Parliament. The second-largest faction remains the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (SiD), which should win 135 seats. Next comes the association of liberals “Renewing Europe”, which will have 83 MEPs. The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) can count on 72 seats, and the right-wing nationalists of the association “Identity and Democracy” – on 58 seats.

About this testifies official preliminary forecast of the distribution of seats in the legislative body of the European Union.

The “Greens/European Free Alliance” association, according to forecasts, will significantly lose representation in the EP and will receive 53 mandates. The European United Left / Left-Green North, according to the forecast, will receive 35 seats in the new EP. Another 46 seats will belong to non-factional deputies, and 52 mandates will go to newly elected deputies who are not affiliated with any of the political groups of the previous convocation. In these elections, 720 members of the European Parliament are elected – this is 15 more than in the previous elections, but less than the 751 MEPs who were in the parliament before Britain left. The turnout at the elections was about 51 percent, the European Parliament reported. This is slightly more than during the 2019 elections, when the turnout was 50.66 percent.

Far-right parties have significantly increased their representation in the European Parliament as a result of the elections that ended on Sunday, June 9. In particular, in France, the far-right National Union party, led by Marine Le Pen, received about 33 percent of the vote and confidently took first place. The victory of the far-right led to the decision of French President Emmanuel Macron to dissolve parliament and announce early elections.

In Austria, the far-right Austrian Freedom Party (APF) also finished first, receiving 25.5 percent of the vote. In Italy, the far-right party “Brothers of Italy” of Prime Minister Giorgia Maloney also took first place, gaining, according to the results of exit polls, from 26 to 30 percent. In Germany, the populist far-right Alternative for Germany (AdN) took second place with 16.5 percent of the vote. In the Netherlands, right-wing populists also won the second result in the country – Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party (PVV) received 17.7 percent of the vote.

In general, the alliance of right-wing nationalists “Identity and Democracy” (ID) has achieved significant success throughout Europe, dpa reports. According to the previous official forecast published on the website of the European Parliament, this association will have 60 MEPs. Another far-right political force – the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) – wins 70 mandates.

The European People’s Party, which won the elections to the European Parliament, will build a strong “center” in it, which will have a clear pro-European and pro-Ukrainian position. Ursula von der Leyen, the leading candidate for the position of president of the European Commission from the European People’s Party, stated this in Brussels after the announcement of the preliminary results of the EP elections.

“I thank the voters for their trust. Today is a good day for the European People’s Party. We won the European elections. At this time, we are the strongest party and the basis for stability. I am grateful to the voters who have recognized our leadership over the past five years“, she noted.

She reminded that during the past weeks she conducted an active election campaign: she visited 17 European countries and more than 30 cities to learn about what worries and worries people. Everywhere, according to von der Leyen, she heard that citizens really highly value the European Union, treat it with confidence and trust. The leading candidate from the EPP thanked the member parties of this political family in the EU countries for the great work that made it possible to achieve such a result.

“This election sent us two messages. First, there is a majority in the “centre” for a strong Europe, and this is critical for stability. This “center” is saved. But it is also true that the extreme left and right gained support. That is why these results mean a huge responsibility for the parties in the “center”. We may disagree on various points, but we all have an interest in stability, we all want to see a strong and efficient Europe– said the European leader.