Euro Elections 2019: How Euro rebels broke power of the old guard

As a result, the Brussels and Strasbourg assembly could face months of deadlock and horsetrading in the effort to appoint a new European Commission. Pro-Brussels liberals who made some gains at the expense of their larger rivals are expected to help shore up the establishment bloc. French president Emmanuel Macron saw his centrist party overtaken by Marine Le Pen’s hardline National Rally, while German chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats lost support to liberals and greens.

Guy Verhofstadt, the leader of the liberal ALDE group in the parliament and a Brexit negotiator, said: “For the first time in 40 years, the two classical parties, socialists and conservatives, will no longer have a majority.

“It’s clear this evening is a historical moment because there will be a new balance of power in the European Parliament.”

Chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier was emerging as a key candidate to take over from Jean-Claude Juncker as European Commission president when his five-year term ends in October.

A European Council informal dinner of EU heads of state or government tonight, to which the UK has been invited, will discuss the outcome of the elections.

The conservative European People’s Party (EPP), set to remain the European Parliament’s largest bloc, was projected to hold around 179 seats, down from 216 in 2014.

MEPs expect it to form a coalition with the 150-strong Socialists and Democrats bloc, which includes the Labour Party, while also seeking alliances with some liberals and greens.

Both Germany’s mainstream parties lost support.

The Christian Democrats’ vote share fell from 35 percent in 2014 to 28 percent, while that of the centre-Left Social Democratic Union fell from 27 percent to 15.5 percent.

An expected surge for Right-wing Eurosceptic Alternative for Germany (AfD) party fizzled out after it won just over 10 percent.

In France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, formerly the National Front, won 24 percent of the vote compared with 22.5 percent for President Macron’s En Marche.

A Macron adviser said that his authority would be strengthened by the increased support for liberals and centrists allied to his party.

“For the first time, the European People’s Party and the Socialists and Democrats will have to compromise with a centrist, pro-European force – in which we’ll have a central and crucial role – and which will be a totally indispensable partner,” the adviser said.

French officials hope the shift will give Mr Macron more power to block Christian Democrat Manfred Weber, Frau Merkel’s choice, from becoming the next European Commission chief.

M Macron favours M Barnier for his tough approach with Theresa May in the Brexit talks.

In Hungary, premier Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party, which campaigns against mass immigration, took 52 percent of the vote and 13 of the country’s 21 European parliament seats.

He described the elections as “the beginning of a new era against migration”.

In Spain, the ruling Socialist party (PSOE) topped the poll with 32.8 percent of the vote and 20 seats, while newly formed insurgent Vox won just 6.2 percent and three MEPs.

In Greece, Left-wing prime minister Alexis Tsipras called an early election after the opposition conservative New Democracy party won 33.5 percent of votes compared with 20 percent for his Syriza party.

In Poland, the Right-wing ruling Law and Justice party won 45 percent and 27 of the country’s 51 seats.

Italy saw deputy premier Matteo Salvini’s far-Right Northern League party win 34.3 percent of votes.

Anti-establishment F-Star Movement won 17.1 percent and was pushed into third place by the centre-Left.

In Milan yesterday, Mr Salvini said: “The time has come to totally re-discuss old and outdated rules that have hurt Europe.”

Turnout for the elections, which saw “yellow vest” protesters clash with police in Brussels, reached its highest level for 20 years.

Around 51 percent of voters took part, an eight-point leap on the 43 percent voting in the 2014 Euro elections.

Analysis by Tim Newark

It’s not just UK party politics that has been shaken to the core by the EU elections. 

The tectonic plates of European politics are shifting too. 

France, Germany, Italy and Hungary have all seen the rise of parties no longer willing to bend down to Brussels’ bureaucrats.

It was Hungary’s Viktor Orban who first defied the EU’s diktat to accept mass migration and raised a wall against the wave of illegal migrants pouring into Germany through the Balkans. 

His Fidesz party were rewarded with 52 percent of his country’s EU vote, sending 13 immigration hard-line MEPs to Brussels.

Italy’s tough stance against seaborne migrants from North Africa has also proved popular and Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini whipped up tremendous support during the campaign, bringing in more than 30 percent of the vote – sending yet more defiant MEPs to shake up the consensus in Brussels.

 It has even wiped the smug smile off the face of Guy Verhofstadt, the arch-liberal EU parliamentarian who has given Britain such a hard time over Brexit. 

“For the first time in 40 years, the two classical parties, socialists and conservatives, will no longer have a majority,” he admits. 

If that wasn’t bad enough, Marine Le Pen and her Right-wing National Rally beat the French President Macron, making clear that the EU liberal elite must start listening to the concerns of ordinary people about mass migration and globalisation or face the deconstruction of their precious project.

Only in Germany has the march of nationalism been dented as the Alternative fur Deutschland performed less well than expected.

There was still a protest vote against the governing classes but that went more to the Greens.

The days of bureaucrats in Brussels laying down the law for millions across the continent are over. 

If they don’t change their attitude, their fantasy of a United States of Europe will be torn down and that might even mean they lose their gold-plated pensions. Something well worth voting for.