Il est de coutume pour les politiciens au centre (droit et gauche) de revendiquer qu’ils ont tiré les leçons des résultats des élections européennes et de reconnaître le renforcement des sentiments anti-UE and anti-établissement. Pourtant, ils ont dit la même chose il y a cinq ans, et cinq ans plus tard, il y a plus, beaucoup plus de députés européens aux extrêmes du spectre politique qui vont siéger à Bruxelles et à Strasbourg.

It is customary for politicians from the centre (right and left) to claim they have “learnt the lessons” from the results of the European elections and to acknowledge the strength of anti-EU and a broader anti-establishment feeling. Yet they said the same thing five years ago, and five years later there are more – many more – MEPs from the extremes of the political spectrum that will sit in Strasbourg and Brussels.

38 out of the 74 French MEPs have ben re-elected or 51 %. 36 are new MEPs

Front National (FN)

The outcome of the elections has underlined the need for change and reforming the EU to make it more competitive and flexible.

There are basically five main options:

1. Stick with the status quo:  The main underlying source of disenchantment is the recession still gripping some parts of the EU. Given the high level of unemployment, particularly among the young, and the likely slow pace of economic recovery, maintaining the status quo is an option that can be quickly ruled out.

Radical anti-EU parties such as FN in France, UKIP in England or Fivestar Movement in Italy believe that they just can walk away from the EU and/or renegotiate EU treaties. The reality, however, is that the only possibility being offered under EU treaty is to negotiate a withdrawal from the European Union and that can take many years. Neither the FN nor UKIP has worked out the details of how it would secure such an exit.

Anti-European Union and populist parties registered stunning gains in European Parliament (EP) elections over the last week, finishing first in several member states, including France, the United Kingdom, and Denmark. They will use their parliamentary presence as a platform for their Euroskeptic, anti-globalizing, and xenophobic discourse. This will affect the political climate in the EU and may weigh heavily on upcoming debates of strategic importance, for instance on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership with the United States.

Austria (18 seats)

• ÖVP : 27.00% 5 seats (EPP)
• SPÖ: 24.10% 5 seats (S&D)
• FPÖ: 19.70% 4 seats (NI)
• Grüne: 14.50% 3 seats (Greens/EFA)
• Neos: 8.10% 1 seat (ALDE)

Belgium (21 seats)

Four main strategies for Eurosceptic MEPs

The current economic crisis has served to galvanize oppositions to the European Union (EU) as evidenced by the electoral success of Eurosceptic parties such as the United Kingdom Independence Party, the Front National in France and most recently, the Alternative For Germany party.

There are qualitative differences of Euroscepticism which can be subsumed in two categories or forms:

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.