Europe turns to the right

Centre-right parties were the main victors in last week's European Parliament elections with the European People's Party remaining the largest bloc in Parliament. In most countries the centre-right held its ground or increased its share of the vote whether it was in opposition or in government.

The main losers were Europe's Social Democrats who lost up to 25 per cent of their seats. The only exceptions to this trend were the socialist parties in Malta, Greece and Sweden (in opposition) and Slovakia (in government), all of which gained the most votes in their respective elections.

One would have thought that in the present difficult economic climate, the parties of the centre-left would have been the most to benefit from voters' concerns about job losses and the effects of the global financial crisis. Instead, it was the centre-right that benefited, which means voters had more confidence in these parties' ability to manage the economic crisis, steer Europe towards recovery and defend a European-style system of capitalism.

The bulk of the centre-right parties in the EU today are strong defenders of the social market economy model, which means the left does not have a monopoly in pushing for a regulated market with a strong social basis, and was thus deprived of a potential vote catcher.

"It's a sad evening for social democracy in Europe. We are particularly disappointed. It is a bitter evening for us," Martin Schulz, leader of the European Socialists said. Indeed, at a time when some people were actually questioning the future of capitalism, the poor results for the socialists show many of Europe's centre-left parties were unable to come up with viable solutions or options in this economic crisis.

Besides the EPP, the Green parties - which campaigned on European issues and appealed to voters interested in fundamental change - also did well in these elections, gaining seats in Parliament.

This election also saw gains by far right and nationalist parties in a number of countries such as the Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Denmark, Slovakia, Hungary, Finland, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and the UK where the British National Party won two seats - its first ever in a national election.

This trend is worrying and can be explained by the economic crisis coupled with fears and anger over immigration and what some voters consider the 'Islamisation' of Europe. Such fears cannot be ignored and must be addressed by the mainstream parties - failure to do so will only result in greater support for these far-right parties.

The biggest winners in these elections were German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy who both crushed their Socialist opponents and who will now no doubt lead the way in steering Europe out of its economic crisis and introducing tougher financial regulation. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right People of Liberty Party easily beat the centre-left Democratic Party and Spain's centre-right Popular Party beat the ruling Socialists for the first time since 2004.

Other big winners include Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, a moderate pro-European centre-right leader who easily beat both his conservative eurosceptic and social democratic opponents, and Hungary's centre-right opposition Fidesz Party leader Viktor Orban, who took 56.4 per cent of the vote and thrashed the ruling Socialists into third place.

On the left, the only party to do exceptionally well was the Labour Party in Malta which got 55 per cent of the vote compared to 40 per cent for the Nationalist Party.

The biggest losers were British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose Labour Party ended up in third place with just 15 per cent of the vote behind the Conservatives and the eurosceptic UK Independence Party, German Social Democratic Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeimer, whose party suffered its worst ever result with 22 per cent of the vote and whose chances of defeating Chancellor Merkel in this year's national elections now look slim, and Irish Prime Minister Brian Cowen, whose Fianna Fail party performed dismally as a result of the severe economic crisis gripping the country.

The voter turnout at 43 per cent was poor - the lowest ever in a European election - which raises serious questions about just how detached Europeans feel from this important EU institution. Overall, the turnout has fallen at each European election since 1979, when 62 per cent of European voted. A thorough soul-searching exercise among EU leaders and policy-makers is definitely needed. In some countries for example the voter turnout was at a ridiculous low of 19.6 per cent (Slovakia) or 20.9 per cent (Lithuania).

The smaller Socialist bloc in the European Parliament will now make it easier for the centre-right to push through a whole range of economic and social legislation especially if the EPP can forge an alliance with the Liberals and a new grouping being formed by the British Conservatives. The EPP's victory almost certainly guarantees the re-election of European Commission president José Manuel Barroso.

Europe will now more than ever be guided by the centre-right and we can expect more left-right politics in this European Parliament than in the previous ones which were characterised by consensus politics.