Parties opposing Russia sanctions surge in EU elections

Right-wing and conservative parties are gaining ground in the European Parliament, according to early results

Hundreds of millions of people in 27 EU member states have cast their ballots in the parliamentary elections, showing growing support for conservative and right-wing parties in defiance of the bloc’s current policies, including immigration, security, and climate.

Initial projections after the polls closed on Sunday indicated a stunning defeat for French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. This has already led to Macron dissolving the country’s National Assembly and calling snap parliamentary elections.

“France needs a clear majority to operate in calm and concord,” Macron said in a message on X (formerly Twitter). “I’ve understood your message, your preoccupations, and I won’t leave them without a response.”

Read more Macron calls snap parliamentary election

The French right-wing National Rally received more than 30% of the vote, more than double the share of Macron’s Renaissance party, with the party’s former leader, Marine Le Pen, declaring that she is “ready to take power.” While Le Pen has supported sending “defensive weapons” to Ukraine, she opposes using them to strike Russian territory, and argued that sanctions on Moscow are ineffective and primarily harm Europeans.

Germany’s governing center-left Social Democratic Party received disappointing results, falling behind the right-wing Alternative for Germany party (AfD), which has objected to Western sanctions on Russia and opposes military aid to Ukraine. 

“After all the prophecies of doom, after the barrage of the last few weeks, we are the second strongest force,” AfD leader Alice Weidel said.

Read more Scholz’s coalition suffers EU election blow – projections

The Netherlands’ conservative Party for Freedom (PVV), spearheaded by Geert Wilders, came in second with 17% of the vote, and was projected to go from one to seven seats in the European Parliament. Wilders has spoken out against sending military aid to Ukraine, arguing that supporting Kiev’s war effort will leave the Dutch military unable to defend the country.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo announced his resignation after his Open VLD party suffered a disastrous defeat, gaining just 5.8% of the vote, while the right-wing Vlaams Belang and Flemish nationalist N-VA parties received over 14.8% and 14.2% of the vote respectively.

“I was the figurehead of this campaign. This is not the result I had hoped for, and I, therefore, take responsibility for this result, it was not meant to be,” de Croo told journalists on Sunday. “As of tomorrow, I will be resigning as prime minister and I will fully concentrate on current affairs.”

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy) party won the election with 28% of the vote, securing 28 seats – a significant gain from the 2019 election when her party held just five seats. Meloni, the current chair of the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR), has rebuked Macron over his remarks on the possibility of sending troops to Ukraine, and has spoken against the escalation of tensions between NATO and Moscow.

Despite the EU’s significant swing to the right and setbacks to the establishment on national levels, the center-left and center-right parties retained the majority in the European Parliament, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s European People’s Party projected to win 181 seats.