Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission. Piroschka Van De Wouw/Reuters
Europe’s mainstream conservatives, the European People’s Party, performed strongly and finished first in the European Parliament elections this weekend, according to preliminary results. It was a sign that the party’s strategy to integrate more right-leaning policies in an effort to stop voters from shifting to further-right rivals had worked.
Still, far-right parties with nationalist and anti-immigration agendas surged in France and in Germany. AfD, the German ultranationalist party that has been designated a “suspected” extremist group by the German authorities, soared to second place. In France, Marine Le Pen’s right-wing party scored twice the support of the centrist coalition. In response, President Emmanuel Macron called for snap legislative elections — a huge gamble.
