Historic European elections
The European elections have resulted in many winners. The political weight in the future European Parliament still lies in the pro-European centre – despite gains on the outer margins.
The European People’s Party EPP has clearly emerged as the strongest group in these European elections: in the future European Parliament, the Christian Democrats lie ahead with 213 seats compared to the Social Democrats and Socialists with 191 seats. The Liberals are the third strongest force, followed by the Greens. But it is not these figures that make the 2014 European parliamentary elections so historical. For the first time since the founding of the EU, the voters have been able to influence the decision on who will become president of the European Commission. Shortly after the election results were clear, the EPP’s leading candidate, Luxembourg’s long-serving former Prime Minister Jean-Claude Juncker, laid claim to the post. The candidate of the second largest party is the Social Democrat and current president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz from Germany. In Germany the Social Democrats significantly improved their position with an increase of 6.5 per cent to 27.3 per cent of the votes. But, despite losses, Germany’s Union parties were able to defend their first place with 35.3 per cent of the votes.
Germans are not Europe-weary
Quite apart from the results achieved by the various parties, the outcome of the European election in Germany was very positive: in comparison with 2009, the voter turnout here rose by almost five per cent reaching an overall 48 per cent. All in all, the turnout throughout Europe varied widely. The average turnout was around 43 per cent. A total of 375 million people in 28 member states were called on to vote for the 751 members of the European Parliament.
People have also been following the European elections with added interest this year, because an unprecedented number of Eurosceptic and anti-European parties campaigned in numerous countries. In Germany, the party of European critics AfD (Alternative für Deutschland) gained seven per cent of votes in its first European election appearance. In Britain, the anti-European UKIP party of the right-wing populist Nigel Farage made headlines with a landslide victory. His party gained almost 28 per cent of the vote and outstripped both the governing Conservatives and the Labour opposition. In France, the far-right Front National (FN) headed by Marine Le Pen gained a clear victory. Similarly, in Denmark the right-wing populist Danish People’s Party DPP won the largest number of votes. Although the extremist parties have generally gained in weight, they are a long way from any parliamentary majorities at EU level.
www.bundeswahlleiter.de/de/europawahlen
