The political stage after the EU Parliamentary election

European leaders are assessing the returns of the European Parliament election in a bid to offset the Eurosceptic and far-right ascension

România Internațional, 27.05.2014, 14:51

The ascension of the Eurosceptics, of the far-right and far-left parties following the recent European Parliament election has triggered a shockwave of concern all throughout the Western chancelleries. According to press agencies, the victory of the far-right National Front in France and of the anti-European UKIP in Britain have been perceived as a rejection of the EU as we know it and of the national elites currently in power.

Upon the latest elections, opponents and critics of the EU more than doubled their seats in the European Parliament, against the background of the high unemployment rate and unpopular austerity programmes. The returns of the European Parliament election have pointed to the need for reforms inside the union, whose leaders will have to focus more on issues of general concern, such as: the creation of new jobs, economic growth and a better future.

On the other hand, European leaders have to show a greater commitment to fighting off the ascension of Europhobic and extremist political groups. According to political analyst Bogdan Chireac, in spite of the headway made by the Eurosceptics in the election, the European construction will move on. He said on Radio Romania that the outcome of the election was also a follow up of the deep-going economic crisis that confronted the EU.

Bogdan Chireac: “Even if the EU citizens are dissatisfied with their governments, parliaments, in general with their systems, at the end of the day, they realize they won’t go back to the national currencies, to freedom being curbed for people, capital, services, the fundamental elements underlying the European Union. Moreover, they are a bit angry with us, the poor countries in the east, but this anger is ungrounded, as we haven’t caused the big problems there, we are only facing the effects.”

Romania is against this disquieting tendency manifest at European level and will have no populist and xenophobic MEPs. In another development, a decision by the National Liberal Party, the main opposition party in Romania, to leave the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and join the European People’s Party in order to avoid a Socialist takeover of the European Commission presidency has attracted harsh criticism from its former political colleagues who see it as a betrayal of liberal values.