The EU Elections: A Vote For National Sovereignty

Defenders of a one Europe one government philosophy took a blow this week as 30% of the seats in the European Parliament fell to pro-national parties.  Europe's leaders immediately held crisis talks to discuss how to stem the tide of decentralization.  British Prime Minister David Cameron noted:  "The results show a very clear message - people are deeply disillusioned with the EU, with the way that it's working and they want change".  EU Commission president Jose Manuel  Barroso acknowledged trust in political leadership " is going down dramatically".

Most of the anti-EU seats were won by either socialist parties or right-wing newcomers who are united only by their opposition to European unity.  These euroskeptics show no sign of any agreement on policy.  Austria's right-wing Freedom Party, for example, which won 20% of the popular vote opposes any monetary bailouts for debt-ridden southern countries like Greece and Spain.  Greece's socialist Syriza party, which topped the polls and took 6 seats, wants more financial assistance from the north.  France's National Front, an anti-immigrant right-wing party, took 22 of 74 seats;  leader Marine Le Pen called the election "an humiliation"  for socialist president Francois Hollande.  Spain's Podermos party, barely 100 days old, stunned the Spanish establishment by winning 5 seats in the European Parliament.  Leader, Pablo Iglesias, a former Communist Youth party member, promises a guaranteed minimum income, a reduction of austerity measures and more tax on the rich.  Jobbik, a Neo-Nazi Greek party, won 3 seats.  It proposes to deport Jews and stop immigration from eastern Europe, particularly the Romany (gypsies).  This is just a sample of the split in European politics.

Despite the stunning success of these populist groups, mainstream parties still hold 70% of parliamentary seats.  But the power of the minority parties should not be underestimated.  They will have a powerful platform to project their views and influence politics in their home countries and they will be able to stonewall further European integration, torpedo trade agreements and disrupt the EU bureaucracy.  A clear warning to the European establishment comes from Jose Ignacio Torreblanca, a political analyst in Madrid:  "The message for national governments will be that if you push for more Europe, you will be penalized at the polls".