Gavin Grey: UK correspondent on far-right parties gaining more power in the EU

Far-right parties have rattled traditional powers in the European Union following recent parliamentary elections.

French President Emmanuel Macron has called a snap election after exit polls put Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally party well ahead of pro-European centrists.

Meanwhile, the far-right Alternative for Germany party is in second place in their vote, ahead of centre-left Social Democrats - with the Conservatives in the lead by a distance.

UK correspondent Gavin Grey says increased concerns about immigration have helped these parties get ahead.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Devin Gray are UK correspondents with US now even in
Gavin Hi, what do you reckon has caused the swing
to the right in the European elections?

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Look, I think migration is a massive factor for many
in Europe. They've seen hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers
come across from Northern Africa, but also from other places
around the world where perhaps you wouldn't expect asylum seekers
to claim the need to move from. But I think
that's behind a lot of it. I think there's dissatisfaction

(00:30):
at the sort of way in which the EU Parliament
is operating, in the way it's run and what it's achieving.
It seemed by some to be rather sluggish in responding
to massive topics like immigration, but also cybersecurity, trade, the
response to the pandemic I don't think was particularly clever,
and so this has been a massive story. Overnight here

(00:52):
the four day vote came to an end. The big
headline comes from France, where the far right National Rally
Party really trounced Emmanuel Macron's party, the President's Party, with
more than double the number of votes to Marine La
Penn's National Rally, but also really the European Parliament now
see a big strengthening of the right wing center right parties,

(01:17):
with victories in Germany, Greece, poland Spain, big advances in
Hungary against the long dominant Victor Auburn, the Prime Minister.
There So the twenty seven countries all voting across these
four days at the center right will now command one
hundred and eighty four seats from the seven hundred and
twenty seat European Parliament. The far right the far right

(01:39):
didn't enjoy the big surge that had been predicted by some.
In the Netherlands, the anti Islam populist Geert Wilder's Freedom
Party came second, not first, but Germany's opposition Conservatives well
always going to come out top. They scored a thirty
percent of the vote, but the Chancellor Olaf Schultz's SED

(02:00):
Party had the worst ever result in a European election.
It came third behind the far right alternative Alternative for Germany,
the AfD party. In Spain, the center right opposition Popular
Party defeated the Prime Minister Georgia Maloney. In Italy, she
strengthened her hand with a very good vote for her,

(02:21):
and in Austria, the far right Freedom Party on course
for a narrow but unprecedented victory in the European vote.
Wherever you look, there are some surprising results. Perhaps not
the big night the far right wanted, but a very
good night for the center right and right wing generally.

Speaker 1 (02:36):
Do you think mccran's making a mistake calling the snap election?

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Well, I have to say he loves stealing a bit
of the Lime Knight in the European Union and amongst
European parliaments. So as you know, before the votes were counted,
he suddenly announced, with this idea that Marie Le Penn's
National Party was doing extremely well, that he would call
a snap election. Now it takes place. There are two

(03:01):
rounds of voting in France, the thirtieth of June the
seventh of July. And yes, you're right, that is just
a few days before the Paris Olympics. And it looks like,
I mean, his party was absolutely trounced. But is he
right to call an election. It's been a stunning surprise
for everyone. I mean, he could have just toughed it out.
He is still president for another couple of years, but

(03:24):
he has now lost his majority in the French Parliament.
He could have just tried to tough it out and
carry on. We've got the Euros coming, we've got the
Olympics coming. He would have been in the spotlight if
both go well for France, and spotlight for all the
good reasons. But he's taken this huge risk and now
faces well, frankly, getting things very very difficult to get

(03:46):
any bill through the National Assembly, already a struggle, but
now losing that majority. It really is an explosive, potentially
explosive decision to make, and who knows, perhaps in the
not too distant future we might see Prime Minister Marie
Lapen for the National Rally Party, the far right party
in France.

Speaker 1 (04:06):
Very interesting stuff, Gavin, thank you so much, always appreciate it.
We'll chat you in a couple of days. It's Devin Gray,
our UK correspondent.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
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