European voters reject socialism and far-left policies in European Parliament elections: a political shock
The results of the European Parliament elections showed that voters, especially in Germany and France, largely rejected socialism and left-wing policies.
Experts who have commented on the election told Fox News Digital that the results should serve as a warning to President Biden's administration. European and US voters are primarily concerned with the same issues of mass immigration and border security, and the EU elections showed that voters have taken a stand against the left-wing policies that have emerged on both sides of the Atlantic, experts said.
“Firstly, the election was a political earthquake in Europe,” Dr Niall Gardiner, director of the Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom at the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, told Fox News Digital. “It was a wholesale rejection of the open border, mass immigration and far-left environmental policies being pursued by many European governments. It was also a statement against the increasing centralisation of the European Union. And it was a strong vote for eurosceptic parties in many European countries. So voters across Europe rejected elite socialist and progressive liberal governments, from Germany to France, Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands. This was one of the most significant election results in recent European history.”
“I think the Biden administration should be very nervous about what's going on across the Atlantic because Europeans are voting on the exact same issues that American voters are voting on. The No. 1 issue in Europe right now is mass immigration and lack of border security. That's the No. 1 issue in America,” Gardiner said. “What we've seen in Europe is an effective rejection of the liberal-left ruling elite, and of course the Biden administration is the epitome of that. So Biden is very similar to Chancellor Schultz of Germany and Emmanuel Macron of France, who, you know, are liberal, progressive, elitist and out of touch with the majority of the public. So Joe Biden should be very nervous right now about what's going on in Europe.”
Germany's conservatives take the lead in EU elections, while the rise of the far-right throws France's leadership into disarray
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz delivers the opening speech of the Ukraine Reconstruction Conference in Berlin on June 11, 2024. (John McDougall/AFP via Getty Images)
“There has certainly been much more of a rejection of left-wing parties than a frenzied rush to the far right,” Dr Alan Mendoza, founder and executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, told Fox News Digital after seeing the results of the European elections. He argued that the centre-right is the most prevalent in terms of its position within the EU.
Gardiner seemed to agree.
“I didn't like the term far-right because if you look at the concerns of European voters and their support for right-wing parties across the Atlantic, these are exactly the same concerns that American voters have,” Gardiner said. “European voters who reject open borders also reject extreme environmental policies, they reject wokeism, they don't want crime rates to rise. They don't like the Islamization of Europe. Ultimately, the majority of Europeans who vote for right-wing parties are not extremists. They just want things to change at home. They don't like left-wing socialist policies.”
In Germany, the ruling coalition, Chancellor Olaf Scholz's Social Democrats, fell to third place behind the main conservative coalition and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in second place.
“So what it comes down to is that the left is in decline and not providing the answers that European citizens are looking for. And I think the main issue here is, you know, immigration, which is a really big issue in continental Europe these days and I think there's a loss of trust in what the left can provide,” Mendoza said. “I think the answer is … it's going to be the right-wing parties that are going to provide these answers for the next few years.”
French President Emmanuel Macron dissolved the National Assembly and called early legislative elections after his Renaissance party suffered a crushing defeat in the EU elections to Marine Le Pen's National Rally party. Mendoza said the move was a gamble because the EU elections were seen as a “protest vote” and Macron was calling for elections because he believes people think he is better for France than Le Pen's party.
Marine Le Pen leaves the National Rally (RN) headquarters in Paris on June 10, 2024, after a meeting with Marion Maréchal and Jordan Bardella, the day after the European Parliament elections. (Adnan Farzat/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
French President Macron calls for early parliamentary elections after ruling party's crushing defeat in Brexit vote
“Political changes in Europe can have a big impact on the US – just look at the 2016 Brexit vote, before Donald Trump won that year's election. What happens in Europe has an impact on the US, because at the end of the day, European and American voters are not that different in terms of their concerns,” Gardiner said. “They overwhelmingly don't like radical environmental policies, you know. And they don't like wokeism, you know, and the left's attempts to overturn Western culture and civilisation.”
Matt Mowers, founding director of the EU-US Forum, said a survey the nonprofit conducted in May found that a majority of EU voters “do not believe the EU is heading in the right direction under the current left-leaning leadership. The survey also found that “Europeans have serious concerns about illegal immigration, the rising cost of living, increasing government censorship and excessive regulation,” he said.
“The results of the EU elections prove that our data was right,” Moise, who served in the administration of former President Trump, told Fox News Digital. “Europeans are fed up with the status quo in the EU. Voters sent a definitive message to the globalist elites in Brussels: Europeans don't want decades of far-left policies imposed on them. Change is coming.”
Demonstrators take part in an “anti-fascist rally” following the results of the European Parliament elections in Toulouse on June 10, 2024. President Emmanuel Macron said he was confident French voters would make the “right choice” in early elections that he called, after far-right forces defeated a centrist coalition in Sunday's European Parliament elections. (Ed Jones/AFP via Getty Images)
“Europe is waking up and wants change from the EU,” he added. “Voters in the recent European Parliament elections soundly rejected the EU's far-left ideology. This should scare and alarm the American left. In November, American voters will also reject the push for open borders, reckless spending and unlimited regulation that the left has been pushing in the US.”
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“After years of dominance by the left, we are seeing a rise of the right across Europe,” Thomas Corbett-Dillon, a former adviser to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, told Fox News Digital. “A majority of French people voted for so-called 'far-right' parties, and President Macron panicked and suspended parliament in apparent repulsion at his left-wing policies of unlimited immigration.”
“In the UK, Nigel Farage is leading the attack on the Conservative party, while in the Netherlands, Geert Wilders is leading the fight,” she added. But what's notable is that the UK has left the EU.
“The right has risen across Europe and proven that it has the support of the people today,” he said. “The left-wing media continues to label true conservative movements as far-right, while in reality ordinary men and women who are patriotic and believe in the future of their countries continue to be labelled as far-right. Europe's current governments should be labelled as far-left because they have allowed what to happen to Europe.”
Fox News' Ben Evansky contributed to this report.
Danielle Wallace is a reporter for Fox News Digital covering politics, crime, police and more. Send your story tips to danielle.wallace@fox.com or on Twitter: @danimwallace.
