Centrists Take Beating in EU Election

Nationalists Underwhelmed, Independents the Big Winners

Table of Contents:
ID: Identity & Democracy; a coalition of nationalists and populists in the EU Parliament. Primarily made up of Marine Le Pen's National Rally in France and Salvini's Lega in Italy.
ECR: European Conservatives and Reformists; a coalition of nationalist conservatives primarily led by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
EPP: European People's Party; the governing center-right coalition led by EU President Ursula von der Leyen.
RE: Renewl; a centerist coalition that is part of the coalition government. Their largest party in Emmanuel Macron's party in France.
S&D: The center-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats coalition. Part of the governing coalition. Largest party is the Social Democrat Party of Germany.
EFA: The left-wing Greens–European Free Alliance. They're not in the government but have a significant number of seats. Their largest party is The Greens of Germany.
NGL: The far-left coalition called The Left. Their largest parties come from Germany, France, Cyprus, Greece, and Portugal. Not a major group.
NI: These are parties without coalitions in the EU. They range from far-left to far-right but do not have a substianal amount of power without being part of a coalition.

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The European Parliamentary elections never get much attention. Since the beginning of the EU, they have never resulted in much change. The center-right, center-left, and centrists always form a coalition government that controls most decisions in Europe - from migration to a “green new deal.”

This election showed slightly different results, with nationalist coalitions ID and ECR making small but substantial gains and members of the NI also making serious gains. Nationalist parties across the continent now make up about 20-25 percent of the EU Parliament, their largest amount ever. Yet, for them to make a profound change, they will form a grand coalition, which is not likely to happen now.

NGL, RE, and EFA were by far the biggest losers. While this won’t affect the EU much unless the nationalists can get their act together, it does help EU President Ursula von der Leyen, who was at risk of losing her position because of pressure from RE.

Left-wingers and centrists in her coalition have criticized Leyen for her increasingly close relationship with Meloni and Orban. They were looking to oust her if the election went their way, which it didn’t.

Here’s a rundown of how the elections went in the EU as a whole and in each individual country.