NEWS, OPINION + ANALYSIS
GEOPOLITICS
The right-wing surge in the EU elections could hamper the president’s ambitions in Ukraine and play into the hands of his election rival, Donald Trump
EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT ELECTIONS ACROSS the European Union sent shock waves through the bloc’s centrist establishment in June, with the French and German engines of Europe’s U.S.-aligned foreign policy—particularly President Joe Biden’s backing for Ukraine—facing serious domestic turbulence.
As of June 21, Europe’s center-right European People’s Party was predicted to return 189 lawmakers to the next Parliament, winning over 26 percent of 720 seats contested. The right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists were set to take some 83 seats.
The center-left Socialists and Democrats’ seat share is projected to remain roughly around the same at 136, while the liberal Renew Europe bloc is predicted to win around 74 seats— marking a significant loss of over 20 representatives.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, an EPP member, declared that “the constructive, pro-European center has held.” But the 185 million votes cast across 27 nations also delivered— though less so than predicted—a surge in far-right support, with Euroskeptic, anti-immigration and Moscow-sympathetic parties winning big in both France and Germany. The two nations are traditionally considered the economic and political pillars of the EU. A far-right swing for either could derail the transatlantic pro-Ukraine strategy led by Biden’s administration.
Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Jim O’Brien tweeted that the U.S. looks “forward to working with those elected, as with all EU institutions and member states, to advance security and prosperity and to deliver democracy’s benefits to all citizens.”
But turbulence in Europe will concern Washington, D.C., as will the rise of far-right parties increasingly linked with similarly minded American ideologues supportive of Donald Trump—Biden’s rival in November. Leslie Vinjamuri, director of the U.S. and Americas program at London’s Chatham House think tank, said the question will be: “Can Europe pull it together and think strategically about the moment that we live in?”
“In Germany, in France, in Austria, in a select number of very important countries, there is a dissensus about some things that are really important to the Biden administration: climate, security and defense,” Vinjamuri told Newsweek.
“It’s less each individual policy than a general sense that all is not well, if you think
