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Post by Admin on May 23, 2019 17:25:42 GMT
Although surveys suggest approval rates for EU membership is currently at a record high across the bloc, many commentators fear that support is set to crumble.
In 11 of 14 countries recently surveyed by YouGov and the European Council on Foreign Relations, the majority of respondents reported anticipating a possible EU collapse within the next two decades.
Another challenge facing the EU is the rise of those wishing to bring about its demise from within. Eurosceptic parties have always had a presence in the European Parliament, but traditionally they’ve struggled to wield substantial influence.
As Vox’s Jen Kirby notes, their “staunchly nationalistic views aren’t exactly a successful formula for cooperation in the pan-European political body”.
But Italy’s Matteo Salvini, France’s Marine Le Pen and the Netherlands’ Thierry Baudet are trying a new tactic: attempting to build a cross-continent alliance of anti-EU parties. Other far-right parties have joined the cause, including Germany’s Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) and Austria’s Freedom Party, and “they’re betting that by working together, they can weaken - and remake - the EU from within”, says Kirby.
Macron has pitted himself as the leader of anti-populist forces in opposition to the group, while European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has warned voters against using the elections as a protest platform.
But the extremist parties are still expected to do well, so the European Parliament that sits in July is expected to be more divided, “raising the risk of paralysis as the old pro-European parliamentary coalition falls away”, says The Guardian.
Far-right Euroskeptics are trying to appeal to the dissatisfied with the status quo. “They’re positioning themselves as the parties of change but within still the bigger European idea,” Susi Dennison, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, told Vox.
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Post by Admin on May 23, 2019 19:39:50 GMT
Nigel Farage's Brexit Party is on a stunning roll. That's what happens when you take a firm position the public favors. The final YouGov poll on the European Parliament elections for the UK is in. Theresa May truly embarrassed herself today. Her Meaningful Vote 4 Speech Flopped Splendidly. She tried to reach out to everyone at the same, offending everyone. May has changed her tune so many times, who the hell even knows what she wants?
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Post by Admin on May 25, 2019 18:05:42 GMT
A far-right party in Slovakia that openly admires the country’s wartime Nazi puppet state could win seats in the European Parliament for the first time. Slovaks are among four countries voting Saturday in the Europe-wide vote, which finishes Sunday. Polls favour the leftist Smer-Social Democracy party, the senior member of Slovakia’s current coalition government to win the most votes. Polls suggest People’s Party Our Slovakia, a far-right party that has 14 seats in Slovakia’s parliament, will win seats in the European legislature for the first time. Party members use Nazi salutes, blame Roma for crime, consider NATO a terror group and want the country out of the alliance and the European Union. The election reflects a continental struggle between nationalists who want to wrest power back from the EU and moderates who want to make the EU stronger.
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Post by Admin on May 27, 2019 2:17:24 GMT
The Brexit Party has taken more than a third of the votes in the West Midlands' European Parliament election.
The party took 38% of the vote in the region and will have three MEPs, while Labour, the Conservatives, Greens and Liberal Democrats each have one.
New MEPs include an ex-football club chairman and a former lads' mag editor.
UKIP, which won three seats in the 2014 European Parliament elections, now has no West Midlands MEPs, while Labour and the Conservatives each lost one.
The West Midlands turnout was 31.1% this year, down from 32.4% in 2014.
The Brexit Party MEPs are Rupert Lowe, one-time chairman of Southampton Football Club, Martin Daubney, ex-editor of Loaded magazine, and Andrew Kerr.
Mr Lowe said: "It's very exciting, but I will be working pretty hard to ensure that I'm not an MEP past my birthday on the 31 October."
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Post by Admin on May 27, 2019 20:16:36 GMT
The group has around 32 percent of the vote so far on the night, way ahead of the Democratic Party. Interior minister Matteo Salvini leads League, which came third in the 2018 general election. Following his victory, Mr Salvini said in Milan: “A new Europe is born. “I am proud that the League is participating in this new European renaissance.” He said previously: “As far as I'm concerned, if the League wins nothing changes in Italy, everything will change in Europe, starting from tomorrow.” The head of the party’s Senate Riccardo Molinari added: “The League has probably become the top party in Italy.” The exit poll suggests that League will claim between 27 and 31 percent of the vote.
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