“This is the most important European election in history. » With 360 million citizens expected to go to the polls to elect 720 MEPs from Thursday June 6 to Sunday June 9, French leaders have all tried to dramatize the gathering. From Valerie Heyer, for a presidential majority, to Jordan Bartella for the National Rally (RN), Marie Toussaint (Europe Ecology-Les Verts, EELV), François-Xavier Bellamy (Les Républiques, LR), Manon Aubry (La France Insoms, LFI) or Raphaël Glucksmann (Place Publique and the Socialist Party, PS), who repeated this phrase, tried to rally their troops and defy the predictions of non-voting.
It is true that for each of them, the national issues of this election are paramount. Emmanuel Macron partly projects his credibility on the European scene, the RN imagines itself marching towards the Elysée, the Greens risk disappearing, the Socialists dream of it as the starting point of renewal… But what European Union ( EU)?
“It is true that this time the European Union is at the most decisive point in its 70-year history. The number and intensity of the crises, challenges and upheavals it is facing simultaneously is unprecedented”In late May, Malte Tim Zabel, an expert on European subjects, wrote on the Bertelsmann Foundation’s website.
With war in Ukraine on the horizon, Israel-Palestine conflict, economic withdrawal from the European Union, America’s growing apathy towards its allies on the old continent, the prospect of the election of Donald Trump, a trade offensive and diplomacy on the world stage, China, not forgetting global warming, is undoubtedly challenged to reinvent itself. “Europe is Dead”, Emmanuel Macron has warned. “History is speeding up, France and Europe are in danger of being destroyed”Jordan Bartella insists.
The turning point of the extreme right
In this context, the poll heralds an unprecedented advance for the far-right. The RN leads the Macronist list in at least two of the EU’s founding countries, France, and in Italy, it should come first in the Fratelli d’Italia, the post-fascist party of Council president Giorgia Meloni. Big winner. Belgian Vlaams Belang, Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), Portuguese Chega, Spanish Vox, Alternative for Germany (AfD), Polish Law and Justice (PiS) and Konfederacja or Hungarian formation Fidesz are also expected to send large groups. to Strasbourg.
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