” data-timestamp-html=”” data-check-event-based-preview data-is-vertical-video-embed=”false” data-network-id data-publish-date=”2024-06-09T21:39:02Z” data-video-section=”world” data-canonical-url=”https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2024/06/09/macron-dissolves-french-parliament-europe-bell-nr-digvid.cnn” data-branding-key data-video-slug=”macron dissolves french parliament europe bell nr digvid” data-first-publish-slug=”macron dissolves french parliament europe bell nr digvid” data-video-tags data-details data-track-zone=”top” data-sticky-anchor-pos=”bottom”>
Why Macron’s calls for snap election may be a ‘big gamble’
02:03 – Source: CNN
- French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved his country’s parliament and called snap elections after an EU exit poll showed a historic surge for the French far right.
- Exit polls showed gains for far-right parties in Germany and Austria, as three days of voting wrapped Sunday across the EU’s 27 member states.
- But the mainstream center-right European People’s Party (EPP) is predicted to remain the largest political grouping in Brussels, as its lead candidate said “the center is holding.”
- The vote, one of the world’s largest democratic exercises, comes at a pivotal moment for the EU, which is grappling with issues ranging from the wars in Ukraine and Gaza to immigration and climate change.
Our live coverage of the European elections has ended. Read the latest developments here.
Europe’s drift to the right has been a long journey that’s seen the continent’s mainstream increasingly accommodate people with Euroskeptic views that were once fringe.
The projected gains for the hard right in the European parliamentary elections may seem modest in terms of pure numbers, but they are significant.
The results represent a major challenge to the pro-Europe mainstream officials who dominate the institutions of the European Union.
The advances chalked up by far-right parties may not be unexpected, and they don’t pose an existential crisis for the EU. But they show how the Euroskeptic right could, in the coming years, tighten its grip on the direction of the union.
Over the next 24 hours, the parties of the center – projected to remain the largest bloc in the European Parliament – will likely talk of a “grand coalition” to counter the rise of the far right. And while the far right is on course to make large gains, the center parties remain ahead.
On paper, these pro-EU parties can claim victory. On numbers alone, the centrist coalition has held. The center-right European People’s Party, the center-left Socialists and Democrats, and the liberal Renew Europe are the three largest groups in the European Parliament. When you throw the pro-Europe Greens into that, the center is by far the largest block.
Read the full analysis here.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz party, in coalition with the country’s Christian Democratic People’s Party (KDNP), has come out on top with 43.7% of the vote, according to an exit poll.
However, this is a roughly 10% drop in support since 2019. In second place, the Tisza party, led by political newcomer Peter Magyar, gained 30.7%.
It’s important to note that Orban’s party is politically homeless in Brussels after Italy’s Giorgia Meloni resisted the authoritarian leader’s request to join the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR).
Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Orban has been criticized for obstructing the EU’s attempts to send aid to Kyiv.
In 2019, his party was also suspended by the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) amid controversy over democracy and the rule of law in his country.
Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing Brothers of Italy party has a clear lead ahead of the country’s Democratic Party (PD) with 28% of the vote, according to an exit poll.
In second place, PD has 23% of the vote, roughly the same share of the votes that the party gained in 2019. The Five Star Movement came third with 12%.
In the 2022 Italian election, Meloni – who is the current chair of the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) – was vocal in her opposition to LGBTQ+ rights and desires to tackle immigration.
She has since been seen as considerably more moderate, backing many EU initiatives including support for Ukraine.
Despite a surge of support for far-right parties, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said the final exit poll remained a success for the continent’s political mainstream.
Von der Leyen’s European People’s Party (EPP) is predicted to remain the largest political grouping in the European Parliament with 189 seats.
Roberta Metsola, president of the European parliament, also said the exit poll shows that “the constructive, pro-European center has held.”
European People’s Party: 189
Socialists and Democrats: 135
Renew Europe: 80
European Conservatives and Reformists: 72
Identity and Democracy: 58
Greens: 52
The Left: 36
Non-Inscrits: 46
Others: 52
Belgium’s Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has resigned after his party suffered a disastrous defeat in national and European parliamentary elections on Sunday.
The 48-year-old struggled to hold back tears when announcing the decision on Sunday evening in Brussels.
As far as the European Parliament is concerned, De Croo’s Open VLD party also performed poorly, only gaining 5.8% of the vote, according to RTBF polling. The far-right Vlaams Belang party and Flemish nationalist N-VA party were neck and neck, with 14.8% and 14.2% of the vote share respectively, according to the RTBF poll.
In his resignation speech, De Croo promised to allow for a “proper transfer” of power to his successor, stressing that he remains convinced that Belgium “needs a new government with full powers that can take on its tasks.”
Manfred Weber, chair of the European People’s Party (EPP), said his grouping will aim to shut far-right parties out of any governing coalition.
Speaking after the EPP was predicted to remain the largest grouping in Brussels, Weber urged more mainstream parties to join the EPP’s “pro-European, pro-democratic alliance.”
“The European People’s Party is among the founding fathers and mothers of today’s European Union,” Weber said.
The EPP counts 13 heads of state and government among its members, including Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
Voting across the European Union’s 27 member states has now closed.
The final votes were cast in Italy at 11 p.m. local time, bringing to an end three days of voting across the continent.
France’s far right is poised and “ready to take power,” the movement’s leader Marine Le Pen warned Sunday after French President Emmanuel Macron called a snap parliamentary election.
Speaking after Macron’s shock announcement, Le Pen who ran unsuccessfully for the French presidency in 2022, said she could “not but welcome” the move to dissolve the parliament.
The head of the center-right party Les Republicains, Eric Ciotti, also welcomed the news, calling it the “only solution” after the results of the European elections, according to CNN affiliate BFMTV.
Portugal’s center-left Socialist Party (PS) is on course for a marginal victory, positioned less than 1% ahead of the center-right Democratic Alliance (AD), according to an exit poll from the European Parliament.
The exit poll shows that PS gained 31.4% of the vote, closely followed by AD with 30.6%. The two parties were significantly more popular than other parties, with the Liberal Initiative (IL) in third place with 9.8%.
AD won a narrow victory in Portugal’s snap elections in March, beating PS who had been in power since late 2015.
Philippe Lamberts, a member of the Greens/EFA grouping, admitted that the exit poll was “not a victory” for their movement.
The grouping is predicted to secure 53 seats, down from 74 in 2019.
“Tonight’s result is certainly not a victory for the Greens,” Lamberts said. “But you see, respecting the boundaries our planet is setting for us is no hobbyhorse of ours. It is an imperative, if we want humans to strive on earth. It is imperative if we want to give a future to all – and we have lost too much time already.”
He said that, without the Greens in the most recent governing coalition, Europe’s green new deal had “gone missing.” He warned the more mainstream parties against “embracing the various flavors of the far right” when forming the next coalition.
Representatives from the political groupings in the European parliament have been making short speeches in Brussels, responding to the earlier exit poll.
Assita Kanko, vice-president of the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), said the strong showings for far-right parties was a symptom of the neglect of voters.
She said the ECR, which is predicted to win 71 seats, hopes to become part of the governing majority in Brussels, when coalitions form in the weeks ahead.
Turnout in the European parliament elections has been estimated at 51%.
If confirmed, this would be the highest turnout since 1994.
The prediction is slightly higher than the 50.66% turnout in 2019.
The first exit poll shows Spain’s conservative Popular Party (PP) has overtaken the Socialist Workers Party (PSOE) with 33.2% of the vote.
If the projection stands, this will be a substantial increase from the 2019 European elections, when the party held 20.35% of the vote.
Spain’s far-right Vox party came third with 10.4% of the vote, nearly double what the party gained in 2019.
Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission and the lead candidate of the European People’s Party (EPP), said the grouping will guard against extremes in Brussels.
Speaking after the release of an exit poll which predicted the EPP will remain the largest grouping in Brussels, Von der Leyen said the EPP will deliver a “Europe that delivers, a strong Europe.”
With a predicted 181 seats, Von der Leyen said “no majority can be formed without the EPP.”
If confirmed, the prediction means the EPP would have lost just six seats since the last election in 2019, despite strong predicted gains for far-right parties.
Manfred Weber, President of the EPP, shared his support for Von der Leyen.
France’s President Emmanuel Macron has dissolved the country’s parliament, the National Assembly, and called a snap election after an exit poll showed his Renaissance party is set to be trounced by the far-right opposition in European parliamentary elections on Sunday.
Jordan Bardella, the leader of France’s National Rally (RN) party, called on President Emmanuel Macron to dissolve the French parliament after a strong showing for the far-right in European elections.
Bardella said the gap between his party and Macron’s Renaissance party is a “stinging disavowal” for the French president.
“The president cannot remain deaf to the message sent out tonight by the French people,” Bardella remarked, calling on Macron to “take note” of the results and dissolve France’s lower house, the National Assembly.
Bardella’s call was echoed by leading figure of the French far-right Marine Le Pen, who said Sunday’s result showed ” a very clear message” from the French people to Macron.
Exit polls in France show the far-right National Rally (RN) party has come out on top with 31.5% of the vote, more than double the share of French President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party.
Renaissance, led by Valerie Hayer, scraped into second place with 15.2% of the votes, just ahead of the Socialists in third with 14.3%.
Turnout was at a record high of 45.3%, according to the French Interior Ministry – 2 percentage points higher than the previous European elections held in 2019.
The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola is set to re-gain her seat in the parliament after receiving the highest number of first preference votes in her home country of Malta, according to Maltese public broadcaster, PBS.
Metsola’s Nationalist Party is set to receive three of the six available seats in the European Parliament, according to an exit poll for Malta published by the European Parliament on Sunday.
Her party is part of the European People’s Party group which is the parliament’s center-right political group.
Metsola was appointed to the role of European Parliament President in January 2022 after her predecessor, Italian politician David Sassoli died unexpectedly mid-term.
Her appointment sparked controversy as members of opposing political groups criticized her strong opposition to abortion, among other issues.