8 key takeaways from the European election 2019 results - CNN

Over four days last week voters across 28 countries delivered the highest turnout in a European election for 20 years as they selected new representatives to sit in the European Parliament.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Traditional centrist parties took a drubbing, with the so-called Grand Coalition -- which consists of the center-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) bloc and the center-right European People's Party (EPP) -- losing more than 70 seats and its majority in the EU parliament. One of the key figures in the S&D is Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, while German chancellor Angela Merkel is part of the EPP. In contrast, liberal-centrist grouping the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE&R), which includes French President Emmanuel Macron, picked up 32 seats and will now play an important role in nominating officials for key EU positions.

• In the UK, the Brexit Party, led by arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage, took home 31.71% of the vote. This is almost equivalent to the vote share of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats combined and reflects growing dissatisfaction with traditional UK parties. It's worth noting that the Brexit Party took most of its seats from the UK Independence Party, Farage's previous political vehicle.

• Spain's Socialist party recorded another strong performance following a general election win in late April, winning 32.84% of the vote. Center-right parties the People's Party (20.1%) and Ciudadanos (12.2%) came second and third as Spain bucked the general European trend towards political extremes. Far-right party Vox won just 6.2% of the vote.

• Results in France provided further evidence that a predicted surge in support for far-right populist parties did not materialize. Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally won with 23.31% of the votes, according to the French Ministry of Interior, beating French president Emmanuel Macron's La République En Marche alliance on 22.41%. However Le Pen's vote share was a slight decrease compared to 2014, when her Front National party gained 24.86% of the vote.

• In Italy, the right-wing Lega Party, led by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, took victory with 33.64% of the vote. Euroskeptic Salvini said that he will try to form an anti-EU bloc with Marine Le Pen and Hungary's Viktor Orban. It's unclear if that will materialize.

• Orban, Hungary's far-right nationalist prime minister, scored a huge win after his Fidesz party received 52.14% of the country's votes. That's more than three times the amount of the second most popular party, the left-wing Democratic Coalition, which received just 16.26%.

• The Green Party alliance posted its strongest ever performance in European elections, winning 70 seats and taking 9.32% of the vote -- a rise from 2014 when they took 50 seats. Much of the party's gains came from northern Europe, including the UK, Ireland, France and Germany, where young people have staged marches calling for political action over climate change.

• Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he would call a snap election after a poor performance for his party at European and local elections. The opposition conservative party "New Democracy" won 33.27% of the vote, with a lead over the governing Coalition of the Radical Left "Syriza", currently at 23.85%.

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https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/27/europe/european-elections-takeaways-intl/index.html

2019-05-27 10:59:00Z
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8 key takeaways from the European election 2019 results - CNN

Over four days last week voters across 28 countries delivered the highest turnout in a European election for 20 years as they selected new representatives to sit in the European Parliament.

Here are some of the key takeaways:

• Traditional centrist parties took a drubbing, with the so-called Grand Coalition -- which consists of the center-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) bloc and the center-right European People's Party (EPP) -- losing 77 seats and its majority in the EU parliament. One of the key figures in the S&D is Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, while German chancellor Angela Merkel is part of the EPP. In contrast, liberal-centrist grouping the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE&R), which includes French President Emmanuel Macron, picked up 32 seats and will now play an important role in nominating officials for key EU positions.

• In the UK, the Brexit Party, led by arch-Brexiteer Nigel Farage, took home 31.71% of the vote. This is almost equivalent to the vote share of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats combined and reflects growing dissatisfaction with traditional UK parties. It's worth noting that the Brexit Party took most of its seats from the UK Independence Party, Farage's previous political vehicle.

• Spain's Socialist party recorded another strong performance following a general election win in late April, winning 32.84% of the vote. Center-right parties the People's Party (20.1%) and Ciudadanos (12.2%) came second and third as Spain bucked the general European trend towards political extremes. Far-right party Vox won just 6.2% of the vote.

• Results in France provided further evidence that a predicted surge in support for far-right populist parties did not materialize. Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally won with 23.31% of the votes, according to the French Ministry of Interior, beating French president Emmanuel Macron's La République En Marche alliance on 22.41%. However Le Pen's vote share was a slight decrease compared to 2014, when her Front National party gained 24.86% of the vote.

• In Italy, the right-wing Lega Party, led by Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, took victory with 33.64% of the vote. Euroskeptic Salvini said that he will try to form an anti-EU bloc with Marine Le Pen and Hungary's Viktor Orban. It's unclear if that will materialize.

• Orban, Hungary's far-right nationalist prime minister, scored a huge win after his Fidesz party received 52.14% of the country's votes. That's more than three times the amount of the second most popular party, the left-wing Democratic Coalition, which received just 16.26%.

• The Green Party alliance posted its strongest ever performance in European elections, winning 70 seats and taking 9.32% of the vote -- a rise from 2014 when they took 50 seats. Much of the party's gains came from northern Europe, including the UK, Ireland, France and Germany, where young people have staged marches calling for political action over climate change.

• Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he would call a snap election after a poor performance for his party at European and local elections. The opposition conservative party "New Democracy" won 33.27% of the vote, with a lead over the governing Coalition of the Radical Left "Syriza", currently at 23.85%.

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2019-05-27 09:42:00Z
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Nationalists surge in EU Parliament vote, but pro-EU parties remain dominant - Reuters

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Pro-European parties retained a firm grip on the EU parliament, provisional results from the bloc’s elections showed on Monday, though eurosceptic opponents saw strong gains.

The far-right and nationalists in Italy, Britain, France and Poland came out on top in their national votes on Sunday, shaking up politics at home but failing to dramatically alter the balance of pro-European power in EU assembly.

At the EU level, provisional results published at 00:00 GMT on Monday showed the Socialists, Greens, liberals and conservatives with 506 of the 751 seats in the parliament that helps pass laws for more than 500 million Europeans.

While policy-making is likely to be difficult given the breakdown of a “grand coalition” of the center right and center left, the result shields the EU from anti-establishment forces seeking to break up the world’s largest trading bloc.

Spanish and Portuguese bond yields hovered around record lows as the retention of a strong majority in the EU Parliament by pro-EU parties bolstered investor sentiment.

“We are going to build a social Europe, a Europe that protects,” Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, whose revival among Spanish voters offset a fall in center-left support in Germany, told a news conference late on Sunday night.

President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance platform, built on the ruins of French center-left and center-right parties, added to gains for liberals at the EU level while support for the Greens surged, giving four groups the pro-EU middle ground and holding on to two-thirds of seats.

BREXIT SURGE

Cries of “Europe is back” among voters waving blue and gold EU flags outside European Parliament in Brussels on Sunday night also showed the ebullient mood among Europeans delighted with a sharply higher turnout across the bloc.

Turnout in the world’s second-biggest election rose to 51% from 43% in 2014, its highest in 20 years. It was the first reverse in a trend of falling participation since the first direct EU vote in 1979 and may muffle talk of a “democratic deficit” undermining EU legitimacy.

A stronger voice for the liberals and Greens could see the next EU executive seek a tougher line on regulating polluting industries, taxing multinational companies or demanding trading partners help contain climate change — as well as press its own members, notably in the east, not to damage civil rights.

But disenchantment with the European project, which has struggled through economic and migration crises over the past five years, was palpable across the bloc.

Riding a wave of anger at the British government’s failure to take the United Kingdom out of the European Union, Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party won a resounding victory.

The result showed Britain even more polarized over its Brexit divorce, nearly three years since a 2016 referendum in which it voted 52% to 48% to leave.

Socialist party (PSOE) candidate for European elections Josep Borrell and Spanish acting Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez address the media following election results at the party headquarters in Madrid, Spain, May 27, 2019. REUTERS/Susana Vera

In Italy, the far-right League became Italy’s largest party, giving greater authority to its leader Matteo Salvini who is pushing for swinging tax cuts in defiance of EU budget rules.

Poland’s eurosceptic ruling Law and Justice party (PiS) also came out ahead. In France, Marine Le Pen’s anti-immigration, anti-Brussels National Rally edged Macron’s pro-European centrist movement.

FIGHT FOR EU POSTS

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives lost votes from five years ago as the far-right Alternative for Germany gained. But the Greens grabbed the headlines, nearly doubling their vote to finish second, ahead of the governing Social Democrats.

Provisional results for the EU Parliament put the EPP on 179 seats, ahead of the S&D on 150, with the liberals on 107, up 39 seats, and Greens on 70, up 18. On the far-right, two groups in the parliament had well over a 100 seats, a 40% jump from 2014.

The European Parliament election will usher in weeks and possibly months of hard bargaining over who will run EU institutions. Officials for the four pro-EU center parties were quick to talk of plans for a broad coalition.

“We are facing a shrinking center,” said Manfred Weber, the German lead candidate of the EPP. “So what I would ask us to do to is to join our forces to work together from now.”

Parliament has insisted that one of its own winning members should succeed Jean-Claude Juncker as president of the executive European Commission. But many national leaders, who will meet over dinner in Brussels on Tuesday, have said they will not be bound by that demand.

Slideshow (2 Images)

Weber in particular faces resistance, having never held government office - although he insists his long experience in the European Parliament makes him the democratic choice.

Frans Timmermans, Juncker’s Dutch deputy who led the Socialists’ campaign, cautioned against putting the “Game of Thrones” over top jobs ahead of efforts to forge a common program among parties that will push for a stronger Union.

Reporting by Alastair Macdonald, Gabriela Baczynska, Alissa de Carbonnel, Daphne Psaledakis, Foo Yun Chee, Robin Emmott and Francesco Guarascio, Jan Strupczewski; additional reporting by Elena Rodriguez in Madrid; Editing by Jon Boyle

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2019-05-27 08:27:00Z
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Centrist bloc loses majority in fragmented EU Parliament | Squawk Box Europe - CNBC International TV

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2019-05-27 07:30:00Z
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EU elections produce fragmented parliament amid high turnout - Al Jazeera English

Brussels, Belgium - People across the European Union have cast their ballots on the last day of voting for the European Parliament elections, with early indications suggesting that the bloc's only directly-elected body is shaping up to be more fragmented.

Provisional results on Sunday showed that the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) and the centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) together had the most seats, but not enough for a combined majority, while the Greens, Liberals and Eurosceptics - including far-right parties in countries such as France and Italy - made gains.

Turnout was at the highest in 20 years, at 50.5 percent, according to preliminary figures from across all 28 member states - bucking the trend of a steady decline since the elections were first held in 1979. The last time Europeans cast their vote, in 2014, turnout stood 42.6 percent.

Normally considered "second-tier" elections by voters who have often used them to vent their frustration with their national governments, this year's elections have generated an unusual level of debate amid the rise of nationalist and far-right parties that have made strides at the national level in several European countries.

'Monopoly of power broken'

As predicted by pollsters in the lead-up to the elections, the two largest political groups in the 751-seat legislature lost their combined majority.

Provisional results put the EPP in the first place with 178 seats, a drop from 216 seats won in the previous election but still being the largest of the parliament's eight groups. The centre-right bloc, which currently holds all three top jobs in the EU, was followed by the S&D with 147 seats, down from 185 seats in the 2014 vote.

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"There is no chance for any cooperation with extremists from the left and from the right," the EPP's lead candidate for the presidency of the European Commission, Manfred Weber, told journalists at a press conference on Sunday night.

He was, however, evasive about the fate of Hungary's Fidesz party in the EPP.

Led by Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the self-proclaimed poster boy of "illiberal democracy" in Europe, Fidesz has been suspended - but not expelled - from the EPP bloc due to concerns about democracy in Hungary.

On Sunday, Fidesz came first in Hungary with a whopping 52 percent of the vote. Orban has recently praised Italy's Interior Minister Matteo Salvini - who has launched a bid for a new far-right coalition - for "manning the front line" in the central Mediterranean.

A new centrist group including the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and French President Emannuel Macron's Renaissance movement, which counts in its ranks his party, came third with a projected 101 seats, up from 69 seats.

"New coalitions can be built for those who want to embrace change," Margrethe Vestager, the group's lead candidate for the presidency of the European Commission, said at a press conference on Sunday.

"The monopoly of power is broken."

Frans Timmermans, the lead candidate for the S&D group, suggested he would look to "work with other progressive parties in this parliament to try and build a programme that addresses the aspirations, the dreams, and also sometimes the fears, of our fellow Europeans".

"If we deliver on these points then we can show that progressive, constructive, cooperative politics delivers results and that nationalism only delivers fear," Timmermans added. "On the basis of a programme and the coalition, then we can start playing the Game of Thrones on who gets which job," Timmermans added when prompted about his candidacy to head the European Commission.

The Greens, meanwhile, swept up a surprising 70 seats, according to estimates, mostly thanks to the performance of the German Greens.

"It shows that it's worth to have a positive vision for the European Union, and that has gained a lot of support," said one of the leaders of the group, 37-year-old Ska Keller.

Far right wins in Italy, France

Meanwhile, the group that includes Salvini and Marine Le Pen's National Rally in France has nearly doubled the number of seats to an estimated 57.

In Italy, provisional results put Salvini's far-right League party in the lead with 33.6 percent of the vote. The party is on course to win 28 seats in the new parliament.

On Sunday evening, Salvini turned up at a press conference with a rosary, which he also held just over a week ago on a stage in Milan - where he closed his election campaign in the company of far-right leaders and members of parliament from 11 European countries.

Leader of far-right League party Matteo Salvini kisses a crucifix as he speaks on European Parliament election night [Alessandro Garofalo/Reuters]

"We are the first party in Italy, now let's change Europe," Salvini said.

A year ago, when it entered a coalition with the now-beleagured Five Star Movement, the League had received just 17 percent of the vote in Italy's general election.

In France, Le Pen's party came first with an estimated 23.5 percent of the vote, edging one point ahead of Macron's party and gaining 22 seats.

In Britain, the result showed the effect of the country's stalled EU departure.

Nigel Farage's Brexit Party was in the lead, while the pro-Europe Liberal Democrats came in second. Both the ruling Conservatives and the main opposition Labour party suffered major losses.

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2019-05-27 07:02:00Z
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Europe Election polls: High turnout and a changed chamber - Aljazeera.com

Brussels, Belgium - As voting draws near a close across the European Union, the first exit polls suggest this year's European Parliament elections have seen a higher turnout than usual, and that the power balance is likely to change in the chamber.

Taking place against the backdrop of a rise in support for far-right and nationalist parties at the national level in recent years, the election has been largely portrayed as a battle between the pro-European establishment and its Eurosceptic challengers.

More than 400 million Europeans in 28 member states were called to the ballot box over four days to elect 751 members of the EU's only directly-elected body. Brexiting Britain and the Netherlands kicked off the elections, which take place every five years, on Thursday. On Sunday, 21 countries voted and results are expected through the night.

The European Parliament is responsible for choosing the next president of the European Commission, shares responsibility for deciding on the EU's annual budget with the Council of the EU, as well as oversees the work of EU institutions. While it can't initiate legislation, which is the purview of the European Commission, it can adopt and amend it.

High turnout

European Parliament elections are normally considered "second-tier" polls by citizens, who have traditionally used them to vent their frustrations with their own national governments with "protest votes". Turnout has been steadily declining since they were first held in 1979.

But turnout estimates suggest this year might buck that trend.

By noon, 14.4 percent of eligible voters had gone to the polls in Poland, almost twice as many as in 2014.

By early evening, an EU spokesman put the official turnout estimate at 51 percent for 27 countries except for the UK.

At the last European Parliament elections in 2014, 42.6 percent of eligible voters cast their ballots.

The European Parliament's two largest political groups, the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) and the centre-left Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) are both on course to lose 43 and 38 seats respectively according to an aggregation of 11 national estimates and voting intentions where these were not available - unsettling their dominance and making this parliament the most fragmented so far.

The EPP, whose lead candidate is Manfred Weber of the German Christian Social Union in Bavaria (CSU), is currently the largest group in the European Parliament and holds all three EU top jobs.

As alliances tend to form on an issue-by-issue basis, this means it might become harder to form majorities.

There are eight political groups national parties can currently join. The centrist, liberal Alliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and the Greens are likely to play a more central role in future decision-making. The leftist European United Left/Nordic Green Left (GUE/NGL) is projected to lose 10 seats.

Far-right parties led by Italy's firebrand interior minister and codeputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini are projected to win 57 seats, 21 more than in the last legislature.

Alongside a number of other Eurosceptic and nationalist parties that are part of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group such as the Polish Law and Justice, they wish to take power back from Brussels and devolve it back to national governments.

However, these parties are highly divided on some issues such as the budget, the role of Russia and migration, raising questions about how coherent a front they can form in the parliament.

Preliminary results: watching the socialists

In the Netherlands, exit polls put the Labour Party slightly ahead of the ruling conservative VVD party led by Mark Rutte. The two poll at 18 and 15 percent respectively, a surprise result that will bolster first Vice President of the European Commission Frans Timmermans, who heads the Labour party and is the S&D's lead candidate for the presidency of the European Commission.

The upstart far-right Forum for Democracy (FvD) and its flamboyant 36-year-old leader, Thierry Baudet, were seen as Rutte's main rival after the party came first in provincial elections earlier this year. It lags in fourth place.

In Germany, the CDU/CSU centre-right political alliance which includes Chancellor Angela Merkel's party remains the largest party with 28 percent of the share, but it's the Greens who appear to be on course to bring home the best results, polling at 22 percent.

"That doesn't mean we will see dramatic changes in the balance of power of the political forces in terms of what we were expecting a few days ago," Doru Frantescu, the CEO of the Brussels-based think-tank Votewatch Europe, told Al Jazeera.

"We're seeing changes on the left between the political families, with the Greens taking more seats than expected but taking these seats from the socialists," he explained, adding that crash of the socialists appears for be bigger than expected, despite the gains made in the Netherlands, which has only five seats in the European Parliament.

"This is signalled by the result in Germany, where the Greens have for the first time passed the socialists."

Meanwhile, in Austria, the far-right Austrian Freedom Party (FPO) doesn't appear to have suffered massive electoral losses following the "Ibiza-gate" video - it polls third at 17.5 percent, behind the Austrian People's Party (34.5 percent) and the Social Democratic Party of Austria (23.5 percent).

The FPO, a key ally in Salvini's coalition for a "Europe of nations", was hit by a scandal after a secretly-filmed video emerged of its leader and Austria's vice chancellor, Heinz-Christian Strache, offering lucrative government contracts in exchange for campaign support to a woman posing as the niece of a Russian oligarch. The Austrian government witnessed a slew of resignations of far-right ministers and faces a no-confidence vote on Monday.

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2019-05-26 18:08:00Z
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Donald Trump pushes trade in friendly visit with Japan’s Abe Shinzo - Vox.com

President Donald Trump arrived in Japan Saturday for a state visit with the country’s leaders, including its new emperor, but launched his trip with a reassuring message to an adversary: North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.

North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me. I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me, & also smiled when he called Swampman Joe Biden a low IQ individual, & worse. Perhaps that’s sending me a signal?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2019

In a tweet, Trump wrote he has “confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me;” that promise is that North Korea will not test long-range weapons or nuclear missiles. The country has not violated that promise at the moment, but as Vox’s Alex Ward has reported, it has conducted tests of what are believed to be short-range ballistic missiles in recent weeks.

Japanese prime minister Abe Shinzo does not share Trump’s confidence in Kim. While Abe responded to recent tests by saying they had “no immediate impact on Japan’s security,” he also called them “extremely regrettable” and a “breach of UN Security Council resolutions.” Abe wants UN resolutions governing North Korean behavior to be more strictly enforced; however, Trump has made it clear, as he did in his tweet, that he is not “disturbed” by the country’s recent weapons tests, suggesting Abe will have to look elsewhere for support.

Trade has been another sticking point in the US-Japan relationship, particularly with respect to cars. The countries have yet to agree on a bilateral trade agreement following the Trump administration’s exit from the Obama administration’s Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement, and Trump placed Japanese auto makers on edge in May when he called imported vehicles a threat to national security. This declaration came as the Trump administration announced a six-month hold on new tariffs that would negatively affect the Japanese auto sector.

Shortly after landing in the country, the president met with Japanese business leaders at the US ambassador to Japan’s residence, and gave remarks suggesting trade would be a prominent topic of discussion during his trip.

“I would say that Japan has had a substantial edge for many, many years, but that’s okay,” Trump said. “Maybe that’s why you like me so much.”

The president went on to sound a note of optimism, though: “With this deal we hope to address the trade imbalance, remove barriers to United States exports and ensure fairness and reciprocity in our relationship. And we’re getting closer.”

After spending some time with Abe, Trump announced trade negotiations will actually be on hold for a few months, until a Japanese election in July.

Great progress being made in our Trade Negotiations with Japan. Agriculture and beef heavily in play. Much will wait until after their July elections where I anticipate big numbers!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 26, 2019

The trade progress that has been made was highlighted at a lunch following a round of golf between the two leaders, when cheeseburgers made with US beef were served. Until early May, US beef imports had been restricted in Japan, following a mad cow disease outbreak in the early 2000s.

As Vox’s Alex Ward has reported, Trump and Abe have a warm working relationship, and these ties were deepened during Trump’s trip.

令和初の国賓としてお迎えしたトランプ大統領と千葉でゴルフです。新しい令和の時代も日米同盟をさらに揺るぎないものとしていきたいと考えています。 pic.twitter.com/8ol8790xWY

— 安倍晋三 (@AbeShinzo) May 26, 2019

The two leaders took time away from their official duties to build bonds through sport, first with a round of golf. Later they took in a sumo wrestling match while sitting on special wooden chairs rather than on the traditional floor cushions. Trump also presented sumo star and the day’s champion Asanoyama with a “President’s Cup” trophy.

The president is set to meet with Japan’s Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako on Monday.

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2019-05-26 14:40:20Z
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