EU election: Europeans head to the polls across the continent
Polling stations will open their doors in 21 member countries on Sunday, including the largest EU states — Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Poland. These five together send almost half of all MEPs to the European Parliament: 348 out of a total 751.
Voting in the world’s only international parliament began on Thursday with the Netherlands and the UK, followed by Ireland and the Czech Republic on Friday and Latvia, Malta and Slovakia on Saturday. A total of 420 million citizens are eligible to cast their ballot. Election researchers expect the low turnout of the previous vote in 2014, which was only 43%, could rise slightly this time around.
Read more: Forward or backward? Decision time in the EU
Liberal democracy vs. nationalism
The EU’s largest parties have said this year’s vote could be a life-changing election.
The leading candidate for the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), Germany’s Manfred Weber, and the frontman of the center-left Party of European Socialists (PES), Frans Timmermans, the outgoing European Commission Vice President from the Netherlands, both agreed on this point during the election campaign.
Their top concern in this election is to maintain cohesion in the EU, defending the “liberal” democracies against the “illiberal” model backed by nationalists and populists, among them Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
French President Emmanuel Macron has made calls for a “Europe that protects,” and wants far-reaching reforms in the social and economic fields. Italian right-wing populist leader Matteo Salvini, on the other hand, wants to radically reduce cooperation in Europe.
Like right-wing populists in numerous EU member states, Salvini follows the motto of “My country first!” His party will probably be the most influential force in Italy in this election.
Read more: ‘European’ election sidelines 17.5 million non-EU residents
Collapse in Austria
The final week before the election was certainly not lacking in drama. In Austria, the conservative coalition government collapsed after a member of the far-right Freedom Party, then leader Heinz-Christian Strache, was caught out on video appearing to offer public contracts to a supposed niece of Russian oligarch in return for campaign help.
Election researchers remain skeptical as to whether this scandal will have an impact on the wider EU vote. Davide Ferrari, of the Votewatch research institute in Brussels, told DW that the effect would likely be limited to Austria. “Right-wing voters aren’t so concerned about ethics. For them, it’s about the protest,” he said.
According to polls taken across the 28 member states, right-wing populists and EU opponents could take 20 to 23% of the seats in the newly elected parliament. A significant increase, says Janis Emmanouilidis of the European Policy Centre think tank, but “not enough to take power.” He believes it will be difficult for the right to form a unified group in the new parliament.
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Europe is for Everyone: Proud Europeans rally head of EU vote
One Europe for Everyone
Under the nationwide motto “One Europe for Everyone,” people in Berlin marched against nationalism on Sunday. Berlin, which will be the biggest city in the EU after Brexit, is home to large populations of foreign-born individuals. Many come from other EU members, primarily Poland, Italy, France, and Croatia.
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Europe is for Everyone: Proud Europeans rally head of EU vote
Thousands in the streets
Some 3,000 participants had signed up for the Berlin march before it began Sunday morning. Germany elects 96 parliamentarians to send to the European Parliament, the most of any single country in the 751-seat body.
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Europe is for Everyone: Proud Europeans rally head of EU vote
Frankfurt for Europe
Thousands also came out to support the European Union at the seat of the European Central Bank, Frankfurt. Different groups such as environmentalists, political parties, church organizations and women’s rights activists took part in the march.
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Europe is for Everyone: Proud Europeans rally head of EU vote
45,000 strong in Cologne
Organizers said some 45,000 participants had joined the One Europe for Everyone march in Cologne. Participants included prominent Social Democrat (SPD) politicians like party leader Andrea Nahles and German Justice Minister Katarina Barley.
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Europe is for Everyone: Proud Europeans rally head of EU vote
Rescue Europe
“Rescue the European peace project,” read several signs at the Cologne rally. Many Europeans are worried that nationalist parties like the far-right Alternative for Germany will use electoral success to promote an anti-Europe agenda like the one Brexit supporters spread in the UK.
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Europe is for Everyone: Proud Europeans rally head of EU vote
‘Strache, you neo-Nazi’
Thousands of demonstrators in Vienna marched for Europe the day after former-Vice Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache, of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) resigned in a corruption scandal. The FPÖ, founded by ex-Nazis in 1956, had been in Austria’s ruling coalition since October 2017.
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Europe is for Everyone: Proud Europeans rally head of EU vote
Austrians against racism
One of the main criticism against the coalition government of the FPÖ and the center-right Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) was a number of measures aimed at curbing non-European immigration. The government also cozied up to numerous far-right parties across Europe, including Fidesz in Hungary and the League in Italy.
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Europe is for Everyone: Proud Europeans rally head of EU vote
Poland in Europe
Rallies also took place in other EU member states such as Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, and here in Warsaw. In Poland, where a right-wing nationalist party is in power, and is currently in a legal battle with the European Union over controversial judicial reforms.
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Europe is for Everyone: Proud Europeans rally head of EU vote
From EU president to Polish president?
Current EU Council President Donald Tusk joined the march in his native Poland. A former Polish prime minister, Tusk will end his term as council president in December and is expected to run for the Polish presidency in 2020. Current polls have him and current President Andrzej Duda in a dead heat.
Madness in the UK
Of all the representatives to be elected, it could be those from the United Kingdom who change the structure of the new parliament. With Brexit process still unfulfilled, British citizens were still eligible to take part in Thursday’s vote. The newly established Brexit Party will likely come out on top, but EU supporters and liberals could also do well.
Read more:UK’s ‘Mr. Brexit’ Nigel Farage eyes EU election success
The outcome is expected to be disastrous for the ruling Conservatives, with ineffective Prime Minister Theresa May conceding defeat on Brexit and announcing her resignation on Friday. However, the official results from the UK — just like those from the other EU states — will only be published late Sunday evening.
The British social democrats, also bogged down in the Brexit swamp, will nevertheless probably send around 20 MEPs to Strasbourg. Good news for their European colleagues, who had feared a downsizing initially predicted in early polling. The surprisingly good result for PES leader Timmermans in the Netherlands on Thursday also gave the group a little boost, even if it’s just two extra seats. However, the British MEPs may disappear in October, if Brexit is actually implemented, meaning the group would shrink.
Implications for Berlin
The performance of Weber, the EPP’s leading candidate who also represents the conservative Christian Social Union in Germany, will have an impact on domestic policy in Berlin.
Ursula Münch, the director of the Academy for Political Education in Tutzing, near Munich, told DW that she expected losses for the three parties that make up the governing coalition, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union, sister party the Christian Social Union and the Social Democrats. Münch believes the results of the EU elections could bring about a premature end to the coalition, or even see the replacement of Merkel as chancellor.
In recent weeks, some member states have shifted the focus of their election campaigns. In Germany and Denmark, the fight against climate change has been a key campaign issue. In Greece and Italy, voters are arguing about economic policy and the EU’s perceived paternalism.
Hungary’s Viktor Orban, who wants to save Christianity in Europe from a “flood of Islamic migrants,” has kept the topic of migration high on his agenda. However, most voters outside Hungary don’t really consider that to be a threat.
Read more: Will trolls or truth win in the European Parliament elections?
‘Moment of European democracy’
A question of fate, a crossroads, a fork in the road, the last chance? While the election is certainly important, European Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas has said one need not exaggerate.
“I’ve been in European politics for several years. I can’t remember any vote where it wasn’t about ‘Europe being at a crossroad.’ This is what we will always face, and that’s a good thing,” Schinas said recently in an interview with broadcaster Euronews. “This is the moment of European democracy, and we should also enjoy it.”
The first projected outcome of the new European Parliament is expected shortly after 8 p.m. in Brussels.
Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/eu-election-europeans-head-to-the-polls-across-the-continent/a-48878136?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf