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| Fringe Groups Gain in European Voting | Fringe Groups Gain in European Voting |
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| BRUSSELS — After four days of voting in a sprawling election with nearly 400 million eligible voters spread across 28 countries, fringe political groups pugnaciously hostile to the European Union scored dramatic gains in voting for the European Parliament and delivered a blow to the bruised but still dominant mainstream parties. | BRUSSELS — After four days of voting in a sprawling election with nearly 400 million eligible voters spread across 28 countries, fringe political groups pugnaciously hostile to the European Union scored dramatic gains in voting for the European Parliament and delivered a blow to the bruised but still dominant mainstream parties. |
| Preliminary results indicated that parties strongly opposed to the European Union performed well in several countries, including France, Greece, Britain and Denmark, presenting a stark challenge to champions of greater European integration. | |
| In France, according to official figures announced early Monday, the National Front, the country’s largest far-right party, won 26 percent of the vote to defeat both the governing Socialists and the Union for a Popular Movement, a center-right party. Greece’s radical left-wing Syriza coalition looked set to beat the party of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, while Golden Dawn, a neo-Nazi outfit that Greek authorities tried in vain to outlaw, also picked up seats. | In France, according to official figures announced early Monday, the National Front, the country’s largest far-right party, won 26 percent of the vote to defeat both the governing Socialists and the Union for a Popular Movement, a center-right party. Greece’s radical left-wing Syriza coalition looked set to beat the party of Prime Minister Antonis Samaras, while Golden Dawn, a neo-Nazi outfit that Greek authorities tried in vain to outlaw, also picked up seats. |
| France’s prime minister, Manuel Valls, a Socialist, likened the results to an earthquake while Jean-Pierre Bel, the president of the French Senate, denounced them as a “real trauma.” Henri Malosse, the president of the European Economic and Social Committee, a Brussels grouping of trade unions and employers, warned that “this may be the last European election if Europe does not change.” | France’s prime minister, Manuel Valls, a Socialist, likened the results to an earthquake while Jean-Pierre Bel, the president of the French Senate, denounced them as a “real trauma.” Henri Malosse, the president of the European Economic and Social Committee, a Brussels grouping of trade unions and employers, warned that “this may be the last European election if Europe does not change.” |
| But Nigel Farage, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, or UKIP, cheered the outcome and said it would help those in Britain and elsewhere who want to slash the European Union’s powers and return decision-making to individual states. | But Nigel Farage, the leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party, or UKIP, cheered the outcome and said it would help those in Britain and elsewhere who want to slash the European Union’s powers and return decision-making to individual states. |
| “The real effect of these elections, with big ‘Euroskeptic’ gains in many countries, will be less what happens in Brussels and more what happens within the member states,” he told reporters in Brussels via a video link. “I think the day when we have more referendums on E.U. membership and membership of the euro will have come much, much closer with these results tonight.” | “The real effect of these elections, with big ‘Euroskeptic’ gains in many countries, will be less what happens in Brussels and more what happens within the member states,” he told reporters in Brussels via a video link. “I think the day when we have more referendums on E.U. membership and membership of the euro will have come much, much closer with these results tonight.” |
| After more than three decades of falling turnout, however, this year’s election managed, barely, to halt the downward spiral, with a parliamentary official saying preliminary results showed 43.1 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots — compared with 43 percent in 2009. | After more than three decades of falling turnout, however, this year’s election managed, barely, to halt the downward spiral, with a parliamentary official saying preliminary results showed 43.1 percent of eligible voters had cast their ballots — compared with 43 percent in 2009. |
| Mainstream center-right and center-left blocs will continue to dominate the assembly, with the center-right European People’s Party expected to emerge with 212 seats in the 751-member legislature. But fringe forces will gain a larger platform to promote their hostility to the bureaucracy in Brussels and to immigrants in their home countries. | Mainstream center-right and center-left blocs will continue to dominate the assembly, with the center-right European People’s Party expected to emerge with 212 seats in the 751-member legislature. But fringe forces will gain a larger platform to promote their hostility to the bureaucracy in Brussels and to immigrants in their home countries. |
| Leaders of some of the mainstream parliamentary parties held out hope that voters’ drift to extremist parties could be reversed. | Leaders of some of the mainstream parliamentary parties held out hope that voters’ drift to extremist parties could be reversed. |
| “This is a bad day for the European Union when the party with such an openly racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic program gets 25 or 24 percent of the vote in France,” Martin Schulz, the current president of the European Parliament and the Socialist contender to run the E.U.'s main policy-making body, the European Commission, told a news conference early Monday morning. “The reasons behind such a vote for a party like this party in France is not that people are hard-core extremists,” he said. “They are disappointed. They have lost trust and hope,” he said. | |
| Hailed by Europe’s boosters as a way to hold back a wave of public disenchantment and narrow the chasm between citizens and officials, voting for the legislature began last Thursday under the slogan “This time it’s different.” | Hailed by Europe’s boosters as a way to hold back a wave of public disenchantment and narrow the chasm between citizens and officials, voting for the legislature began last Thursday under the slogan “This time it’s different.” |
| But a series of televised debates between the leaders of rival political blocs and other efforts to engage with voters have had scant success breaking through a wall of public indifference to what many Europeans scorn as a remote and overly costly Tower of Babel. The legislature has 24 official languages and shuttles between Brussels, the headquarters of union’s administrative machinery, and the French city of Strasbourg, 270 miles away. | But a series of televised debates between the leaders of rival political blocs and other efforts to engage with voters have had scant success breaking through a wall of public indifference to what many Europeans scorn as a remote and overly costly Tower of Babel. The legislature has 24 official languages and shuttles between Brussels, the headquarters of union’s administrative machinery, and the French city of Strasbourg, 270 miles away. |
| “The European Parliament is predicated on the idea of a European ‘demos,' ” Charles Grant, director of the Center for European Reform, a London-based research group, said, using a term meaning shared political culture. “But if this demos does not exist, the Parliament has a very hard time connecting with people.” | |
| Politics in Europe remains highly local, making it hard to identify Continentwide trends despite regular pleas from officials in Brussels that voters need to think more as Europeans and widen their horizons beyond national borders. Voter turnout slumped in 17 countries, including Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic, but rose in 11 others like Sweden and Germany. | Politics in Europe remains highly local, making it hard to identify Continentwide trends despite regular pleas from officials in Brussels that voters need to think more as Europeans and widen their horizons beyond national borders. Voter turnout slumped in 17 countries, including Italy, Poland and the Czech Republic, but rose in 11 others like Sweden and Germany. |
| Aside from its efforts to restrict snooping by American intelligence agencies in the wake of revelations by Edward J. Snowden, Mr. Grant said, the European legislature “exists inside the Brussels bubble and doesn’t talk about things most people care about.” Its principal concern, he added, “has been to get more power for itself and more money for the European Union.” | Aside from its efforts to restrict snooping by American intelligence agencies in the wake of revelations by Edward J. Snowden, Mr. Grant said, the European legislature “exists inside the Brussels bubble and doesn’t talk about things most people care about.” Its principal concern, he added, “has been to get more power for itself and more money for the European Union.” |
| The entire assembly decamps once a month to Strasbourg, only to return to Brussels a few days later at a significant cost to taxpayers. Scrapping the trips to Strasbourg would save about $140 million a year. | The entire assembly decamps once a month to Strasbourg, only to return to Brussels a few days later at a significant cost to taxpayers. Scrapping the trips to Strasbourg would save about $140 million a year. |
| The shuttles have left the Parliament open to ridicule as a “traveling circus.” But the arrangement is required by a treaty that cannot be changed without unanimous approval by member states, something that is impossible so long as France refuses to abandon a role for Strasbourg. | The shuttles have left the Parliament open to ridicule as a “traveling circus.” But the arrangement is required by a treaty that cannot be changed without unanimous approval by member states, something that is impossible so long as France refuses to abandon a role for Strasbourg. |
| A vivid example of the paralysis that grips decision-making in a bloc that began in the 1950s with just six member states but has since expanded to 28, the Strasbourg shuttle has helped fuel the mounting public exasperation that improved the fortunes of the National Front, UKIP and other fringe groups. | A vivid example of the paralysis that grips decision-making in a bloc that began in the 1950s with just six member states but has since expanded to 28, the Strasbourg shuttle has helped fuel the mounting public exasperation that improved the fortunes of the National Front, UKIP and other fringe groups. |
| In a sign of how fragmented European politics remain, however, a Dutch party that shares UKIP’s hostility toward immigrants and the European Union did far worse than expected. | In a sign of how fragmented European politics remain, however, a Dutch party that shares UKIP’s hostility toward immigrants and the European Union did far worse than expected. |
| Widely seen as a sideshow to national legislatures, the European Parliament has struggled for years, largely in vain, to galvanize public interest, despite a steady accumulation of power. | Widely seen as a sideshow to national legislatures, the European Parliament has struggled for years, largely in vain, to galvanize public interest, despite a steady accumulation of power. |