No, Populists Haven't Taken Over the EU
Nationalist, euroskeptic parties made gains, but they won’t be able to disrupt the European project as they hoped.
EU voters get counted.
Photographer: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/BloombergDespite all the gloomy forecasts, Europe’s nationalist and euroskeptical parties, it seems, have failed to make enough headway in the European Parliament election last week to be able to disrupt the legislature’s operation. At the same time, the higher than usual turnout sends an optimistic message about the European project: Voters clearly see a purpose to it.
In that regard, the election showed that one priority for Europeans is that the EU tackle climate change: Green parties made strong gains in a number of countries, expanding the environmental movement’s representation in the EU parliament by more than a third.