Photo: Julien Warmand/EPA/MTI
A “far-right” takeover is the biggest threat to Europe’s future, according to a Politico survey of EU legislators.
As they write: “the outgoing members of the European Parliament participating in the survey
Europe’s shift to the right and the rise of populism were cited as the biggest challenges facing the continent.
Climate change and Russia’s war on Ukraine also featured prominently, overshadowing traditional sensitive topics such as migration and the state of the economy.”
While the representatives of the Social Democrats highlighted right-wing populism, the climate crisis and social inequality in their answers, the representatives of the European People’s Party (EPP) rather mentioned the war in Ukraine and the security of the EU. The right-wing representatives of Identity and Democracy (ID) and European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR) did not mention the war in Ukraine among the most worrisome problems, rather they mentioned the dangers of migration and the erosion of national sovereignty, as well as the hasty implementation of the EU’s green transition.
According to the survey, only one out of five MPs would like Ursula von der Leyen to continue as committee president, and her own party family, the People’s Party, is also divided on the issue.
On June 9, 2024, European Parliament elections will be held throughout the EU, including in our country. Of the 705 seats in the European Parliament, the European People’s Party (EPP) has 107, the European Conservatives and Reformers (ECR) 68, and Identity and Democracy (ID) 59.
According to the March survey conducted by Euractiv, the ID could win 82 seats, while the ECR could win 81 seats in the European body, while the EPP would get 184 seats. The current survey predicts 135 seats for the European Socialists. the Liberals now hold 87, followed by the weakened Greens and the extreme left, the former with 51 and the latter with 46 seats.
