THE PROTEST VOTE IN THE EUROPEAN ELECTIONS

The protest vote in the European elections is not nearly big enough to be labelled a comprehensive rejection of the EU, its political values and its economic crisis management over the five years since the last European elections. Eurosceptics, broadly defined, are projected to win about 130 of the EU legislature’s 751 seats (17.31%). Given that the EU has just gone through the biggest financial shock and recession of its 56-year history, the damage could have been greater. Admittedly, they don't have enough votes to stop legislation going through, but what they will get, is the time for speaking in debates, the chairmanship of certain committees, which means that they're going to have much more of a platform on which they can sell their message to voters.

Although there’s not enough in the European shift to derail Brussels, there is more than enough in the domestic political implications for pro-European leaders to weaken their commitment. Now that anti-European political parties have a substantial Trojan horse within Brussels, they will likely set to work undermining its efficacy on every front. That, in turn, will win them more seats over time at home and within Brussels as their skepticism delivers a self-fulfilling failure for the EU.