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Curzon
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Curzon

Date

June 9th, 2009

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EU Elections 2009, and a Sign of Democracy’s Fragility

The results are in, and the outcome is clear—Center-Right parties across Europe made solid gains in elections that finished up yesterday. But beyond that, far-right fringe parties in many EU members states came out with sizable margins. Part of this may show the effect that an economic recession can have on the body politic.

eu-election-results-2009

Some examples of the far-right gains:

  • The anti-Islam campaigner Geert Wilders came in second in the Netherlands with 17% in the Netherlands on Thursday.
  • The Hungarian anti-Gypsy extremist party Jobbik took three of the country’s 22 seats.
  • In Austria two far-right parties mustered 18%.
  • Extreme Slovak nationalists gained their first seat in the European parliament.
  • “Eurosceptic” parties won more seats in Denmark, Finland, Austria, and the Czech Republic.

Comments made by observers:

  • The leaders in France and Italy benefited from tough anti-immigration and law-and-order stances, despite the tabloid scandals of the private lives of both.
  • Turnout was the lowest in 30 years, estimated at around 43%, compared with 45% last time and 62% in Europe’s first election in 1979.
  • Despite jobless numbers soaring amid the worst economic crisis, center-leftist and socialist parties are not benefiting from the political fallout.

As awful as this current recession is for many, consider how good life is compared to how bad it could be. Food prices could be crippilingly high; inflation could be dehabilitating; unemployment figures could be double what they are now. Suddenly, the context in which Hitler won election, and in which America almost elected William Jennings Bryan, doesn’t seem so far-fetched, or so much like outdated history.

Comments to this entry

Thomas
June 9, 2009
9:58 pm
I'm hugely disappointed that the UK, my own countrymen, basically elected a white supremacist.
Rommel
June 10, 2009
5:06 am
I see the gains by the BNP as a good thing, in that the party will never take power but forces the more mainstream/moderate parties to adopt platforms that will address those legitimate grievances that drive many to vote for them...
Sejo
June 10, 2009
8:40 am
With those elections' results, I fear just one thing: that no federation progress between the EU countries will be made in any foreseeable future. No common foreign policy, no common army. No «Europe of the peoples» but a weak, fragmented Europe of often rival and decaying Nation-states.
What I fear, to cut it short, is that in the era of the decline of the Usa as superpower, Europe will not qualify herself as a growing power as China, India, Brazil, Russia.
Arcane
June 10, 2009
12:05 pm
Sejo,
That is ridiculous. The largest conservative bloc in the EU, the EPP, is strongly integrationist and pro-EU. They are some of the most die-hard supporters of the Union. Additionally, the Liberal bloc is as pro-integration as the EPP and Socialists.

Just because Europe has moved to the right a little bit doesn't mean that it has become less integrationist.
Lexington Green
June 10, 2009
8:34 pm
Where the mainstream parties refuse to pay attention to voters' legitimate concerns, they open the door for parties like the BNP. It is up to the mainstream parties to address those concerns, or more of this will happen. Don't blame the voters. They have responded to the choices put before them. Further, the EU "Parliament" is substantively powerless. These elections are a way for voters to send a signal, and they know that.
Kirk Sowell
June 11, 2009
2:39 am
First watch this (the best part is the last 30 seconds):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1E3OFbCpqE

Agreed with Arcane that the right/left dichotomy doesn't tell you much about most European parties' positions on the EU. The centre-right parties in France and Germany are Europhile, in Britain they are Euroskeptic. Yet even taking that into account, the Euroskeptic seat total did increase, especially in Britain. Too bad a couple of them are BNP.
TDL
June 11, 2009
4:54 pm
This election was about the increasing unresponsiveness of the EU political elite. Many of the Euroskepetics have no problem with the economic integration, but object to the political integration (especially the de facto constitution that is the Lisbon Treaty.) As Brussels has increased it's power of even the most minute & local regulations, people are beginning to chafe under their political control. Daniel Hannan (MEP South East England) made the claim that Brussels now promulgates 83% of all the laws in England, with little to no input from the English I might add (Hannan is an Euroskeptic.) This is seen throughout Europe and this, along with immigration, is a driving factor for the results of the past weekend. Also, I'm glad no one made the claim that the odious BNP is far right, they are indeed a racist Labour party (in fact far to the left of Labour.) The BNP was picking off votes from Labour deep in Labour enclaves.

Regards,
TDL
kurt9
June 12, 2009
7:56 pm
My understanding is that these so-called "right" parties are not "right" at all, but are national socialist. The BNP in the UK is an example. If you check out their website, they are clearly socialist on economic policy. There is no such thing as "right" in Europe.
Sejo
June 12, 2009
10:15 pm
Arcane, I have to disagree. The EPP has been in history the true engine of European integration, granted, but today it is not. It is barely pro-ECB. Not even after these elections: they are in almost every country under the menace of Euroskeptical parties. Which is legitimate, of course, but a blind way to look at future. Furthermore, the Italian EPP MEPs are absolutely anti-EU.
Do I have to remind that the worst European presidency has been the one of my otherwise beloved Sarkozy? Do I have to remind that he has relaunched the idea of the Europe of national governments opposed to the increase of powers of the Parliament and a direct election of the European commission by the Parliament itself, as proposed by the liberals I voted? Or that he has humiliated an already weak Barroso on issues like Iran?
If you're talking about Adenauer, ok. But Merkel? She's a protectionist. Europe as a common political process is being dissolved by the national fforts to protect national industries, without any common project for the European economy.
I'm afraid, I stick with my point of view.