Viewed from outside the EU, the European elections create a political frenzy, but one underpinned with limited substance. They provide a ‘fashion show’ for politicians and they create news stories for the media. Which party is up, which party is down, in public support.
What might be the implications for political leaders and their critics? They are the intelligent alternative to the Eurovision Song Contest. Somewhat like the Eurovision contest, they allow the latest political fashions to be displayed. This year, the momentum is with the populist Radical Right.
Will Giorgia Meloni, Marine Le Pen and the Alternativ fur Deutschland show higher levels of public support than before? To this we can add the personality drama: are they or will they be friends in the European Parliament? The European elections give oxygen to new or fringe parties. Exceptionally, across Europe, in 2019, the Greens did particularly well, and the campaign enabled them to raise the level of attention being given to climate change. But the more usual outcome is for the European elections to fuel populism: currently, the euro-skeptic, anti-immigrant, authoritarian political forces that cherish the voice they are given.
Meloni, in particular, is being evasive in her moves, but she and others have the potential to create a new majority bloc in the EP, breaking the traditional alliance between the European People’s Party and the Socialists. The predictions are of a Radical-Right surge. Indeed, the Europ.