Worst fears confirmed on EU election night
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The forecasts had been bad but the outcome was even worse on Sunday night, when polls revealed record low-turnout at the European elections and a swing towards extreme politics across the continent.
Only 43% of European voters bothered to turn out at poling stations to choose their members in the European Parliament, confirming fears that citizens are either indifferent or ill-informed about the EU.
“We are facing a crisis of legitimacy,” warned Martin Schulz, the leader of the Socialist Group at the Parliament as the votes came in. “And that is something that we must urgently tackle.”
The worst turn-out was Slovakia, where just 19% of voters took part, though figures were dismal in most other EU member states too. Just as troubling were large gains by eurosceptics and far-right parties, some of which performed even better than doomsday predictions.
In Hungary, the xenophobic party Yobbik, which has a de-facto paramilitary arm, went from zero to gain three seats at the parliament, neck-and-neck with the mainstream socialists.
The two far-right parties in Austria scooped up 18% of the vote, while the Danish Peoples’ Party will now have two MEPs in Brussels. Britain will send its first-ever candidate from the British National Party in a bitter blow for the embattled Labour Party of Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Across the board, there were large losses for the centre-left parties and although the mainstream centre-right parties will retain their majority, gains by extremists cast a deep shadow over evening’s proceedings.
“We hope that these more eurosceptic parties will engage in a constructive way,” said Parliament President Hans-Gert Pöttering. Yet is was already clear that the day-to-day running of this institution, which now has a deciding voice in two-thirds of EU policy, will be severely hampered, with more politicians likely to disrupt debates and scupper EU legislation.
Listen to a report by Network Europe's Brussels correspondent Vanessa Mock:
