The New European Parliament
From June 6 to 9, the citizens of the European Union’s 27 member states took to the polls to elect their representatives at the European Parliament, one of the EU’s legislative bodies and the only one directly elected by the people. As expected, the election that will determine the composition of the European Parliament until 2029, resulted in a shift to the right, as conservative and far-right groups gained ground amid a rise of euroskeptic, anti-immigration voices across Europe.
According to provisional figures published by the European Parliament on Monday morning, the European People's Party, a conservative, center-right group including France's Les Républicains and Germany's Christian Democratic Union (CDU), is set to remain the majority group in the Parliament, with 185 elected members, 9 more than in the previous legislature. The Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, including the party of German chancellor Olaf Scholz, remains the second largest group with 137 seats according to the preliminary results.
As our chart shows, Renew Europe, to which the French presidential majority belongs, suffered the biggest losses in these elections, losing 22 seats in the European Parliament. The Greens/European Free Alliance also took a heavy loss, led by Germany’s green party which lost a lot of votes for its involvement in the country’s widely criticized ruling coalition, the so-called “Ampel”, which translates to traffic light and symbolizes the colors of the three parties involved.
At the other end of the political spectrum, the two far-right groups made significant gains: the Conservatives and Reformists group, which includes members of Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni's party Fratelli d'Italia, gained 4 seats and will likely be the fourth strongest bloc in the EU parliament. The Identity and Democracy group, including France’s election winners Rassemblement National (National Rally) has gained 9 seats, giving Eurosceptics a louder voice within the EU’s legislative body.