This photograph shows a view of the inside of the European Parliament hemicycle where journalists attend the European elections results in the European Parliament in Brussels on June 09, 2024.
The parliament could also be more fragmented, which would make adopting any measure trickier and slower as the EU confronts challenges including a hostile Russia and increased industrial rivalry from China and the United States.
It also means both German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron, whose party is expected to take a beating at the benefit of Marine Le Pen’s far-right, could emerge diminished and weakened.
Voting began Thursday in the Netherlands and in other countries on Friday and Saturday, but the bulk of EU votes will be cast Sunday, with France, Germany, Poland and Spain opening their polls and Italy holding a second day of voting.
The European Parliament votes legislation that is key for citizens and businesses in the 27-nation EU.
“I don’t always agree with the decisions that Europe takes,” 89-year-old retiree Paule Richard said after voting in Paris. “But I still hope that there will be a reckoning in all European countries, so that Europe can be a unified bloc and look in the same direction.”
Right turn
For many years, voters across the bloc have complained that EU decision-making is complex, distant and disconnected from daily realities, which explains often low turnout in EU elections.
“People don’t know who really has the power, between the Commission and Parliament,” another French voter, Emmanuel, said in a northern Paris polling station.
“And it’s true that it raises questions and breeds mistrust which today might not exist if things were clearer,” the 34-year-old programmer said.
French President Emmanuel Macron, right, shakes hands with a polling station official during the European election, June 9, 2024 in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, northern France.
The center-right European People’s Party (EPP) is projected in opinion polls to remain the European Parliament’s largest group, putting its candidate to head the European Commission, incumbent Ursula von der Leyen of Germany, in pole position for a second term.
However, she may need support from some right-wing nationalists, such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, to secure a parliamentary majority, giving Meloni and allies more leverage.
The European Parliament will issue an EU-wide exit poll at around 2030 CET (1830 GMT) and then a first provisional result after 2300 CET when the final votes, in Italy, have been cast.
Many voters have been hit by the higher cost of living, have concerns about migration and the cost of the green transition and are disturbed by geopolitical tensions, including the war in Ukraine.
Hard and far-right parties have seized on this and offered the electorate an alternative.
“Whoever believes that we need a change of course and that things can be done much better in Brussels has only one alternative, which is Vox,” the leading candidate for the far-right Spanish party, Jorge Buxade, said after voting in Madrid.
In Belgium, voters also elect federal and regional chambers Sunday and are forecast to back far-right Flemish separatist party Vlaams Belang in record numbers, although it could still be kept from office by other parties.
Source link : https://www.voanews.com/a/millions-will-vote-on-europe-s-super-sunday-/7648619.html
Author :
Publish date : 2024-06-09 06:34:23
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.
