In the recent elections, European Union (EU) citizens successfully continued the dominance of the centre-right in the European Parliament, while slightly tilting the legislature’s overall composition more towards the right. Jack Power, a correspondent based in Brussels, speaks to Hugh on the recent alterations in the EU parliament, the potential creation of a voting bloc by the new right, and the implications of the changed Parliament for Ursula von der Leyen’s aspirations of serving a second term as the EU Commission’s president.
Simultaneously, Derek Scally, Berlin correspondent, analyses the rise of previously marginalised parties like the far-right AfD in the European elections in Germany. This begs the question: could this signify the approaching dissolution of the long-held prohibition against the far-right’s participation in Germany’s national governance?