Final votes cast in EU election as Europe chooses future course

World
Europe

Tens of millions of Europeans will vote on Sunday (May 26) as 21 countries choose their representatives in a battle between the nationalist right and pro-EU forces to chart a course for the bloc.

Seven EU member states have already voted, and provisional results will be released late on Sunday once the rest of the union has taken part in the European parliamentary election.

Eurosceptic parties opposed to the project of ever closer union hope to capture as many as a thirds of the seats in the 751-member Strasbourg assembly, disrupting the pro-integration consensus.

The far-right parties of Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and France's Marine Le Pen will lead this charge, and anti-EU ranks will be swelled by the Brexit Party of British populist Nigel Farage.

France's President Emmanuel Macron has taken it upon himself to act as a figurehead for the centrist and liberal parties hoping to shut the nationalists out of key EU jobs and decision-making.

"Once again Macron is daring us to challenge him. Well let's take him at his word: On May 26, we'll challenge him in the voting booth," Ms. Le Pen told a rally in France last Friday.

Meanwhile, the mainstream parties are vying between themselves for influence over the choice of a new generation of top European officials, including the powerful president of the European Commission.

And Brussels insiders are closely following the turnout figures, fearing that another drop in participation will undermine the credibility of the EU parliament as it seeks to establish its authority.

Britain and the Netherlands were first to vote, last Thursday, followed by Ireland and the Czech Republic last Friday and Slovakia, Malta and Latvia on Saturday, leaving the bulk of the 400 million eligible voters to join in on Sunday.

A pedestrian passes in front of election hoardings in the suburbs of Milan on May 25, 2019 prior to the European elections. /VCG Photo

At the last EU election in 2014, Slovakia had the lowest turnout of any country, at less than 14 percent, and centrist President Andrej Kiska is worried that the far-right is poised to profit.

But the right and the far-right have not had everything their own way so far.

In the Netherlands, the center-left party of EU Vice-President Frans Timmermans won the most votes and added two seats to the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) bloc in parliament, according to exit polls.

A day later, the S&D's center-right rival the European People's Party (EPP) was buoyed by exit polls suggesting that Prime Minister Leo Varadkar's pro-EU Fine Gael party was in the lead in Ireland.

If Britain leaves the European Union on Oct 31, the latest deadline for Brexit, then its Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) will not sit for long in the EU parliament but could still play a role in the scramble to hand out top jobs.

The first voters vote for the European Parliament elections at Castricum railway station in Castricum, The Netherlands, May 23, 2018. /VCG Photo

Last Thursday's votes from Britain would not be counted until after polls close in Italy.

Much will depend on who gets the top jobs: the presidencies of the Council and the Commission, the speaker of parliament, the high representative for foreign policy and director of the European Central Bank.

The 29 EU leaders have been invited to a summit dinner on Tuesday to decide how to choose the nominees, and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to back the lead EPP candidate Manfred Weber for the Commission.

But whichever way the leaders' council leans, there will be no immediate decision. Instead, Council president Donald Tusk will take note of how the debate went and draft the nominations before a June 21 EU summit.

(Cover: A man casts his vote during the European Parliament election in Riga, Latvia, May 25, 2019. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP