The progress of the EU’s far right may falter

According to the measurement, which is reproduced by the website Euractive the light-blue European People’s Party (EPP), Socialists and Democrats (S & D) and liberal Renew are likely to get a majority of 409 of the 720 seats in parliament.

The fear that the far right, primarily the party group Identitet og Demokrati (ID), would have solid progress, has been great in the EU’s corridors. The group consists of, among other things, EU-sceptic parties such as Alternative for Germany (AfD) and the French National Assembly (RN), which is led by Marine Le Pen.

AfD falls

The decline to the far right is primarily due to the AfD falling in the polls in Germany. According to the Financial Times, the party has fallen from 24 percent earlier this year to 16 percent.

Now the party is on course to get 16 seats in the EU Parliament, down from 22 in mid-January.

The reason is probably several scandals recently, according to Euractiv. Among other things, the political assistant to the party’s top candidate in the EU elections, Maximilian Krah, is suspected of having spied for China.

In addition, both Krah and another EU parliamentarian from the AfD, Petr Bystron, are said to have had close ties to Russian networks and contributed to spreading disinformation in Europe. Both deny having done anything wrong.

Majority in France

In France, on the other hand, Marine Le Pen and the RN look to hold on to a clear majority of 30 percent or around 25 mandates in the EU Parliament.

That is more than twice as many as President Emmanuel Macron’s party Renaissance (RE).