Far-right gains in the EU election deal stunning defeats to France's Macron and Germany's Scholz

Far-right gains in the EU election deal stunning defeats to France’s Macron and Germany’s Scholz

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Germany’s governing parties were heading for very weak results and the far-right Alternative for Germany made gains in Sunday’s vote for the European Parliament

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French far-right leader Marine Le Pen cast her ballot in Sunday’s European election with her National Rally party expected to win the biggest share of the vote in France.

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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen cast her ballot on the final day of the EU election on Sunday. Von der Leyen voted in the village of Beinhorn in her home country of Germany.

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Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán cast his ballot in the European Parliament election on Sunday, as Hungarians participated in a vote that many see as a referendum on the popularity of Orbán, whose illiberal policies have pushed him to the margins of the European Union. (AP video/Bela Szandelszky)

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Supporters of French far-right National Rally react at the party election night headquarters, Sunday, June 9, 2024 in Paris. First projected results from France put far-right National Rally party well ahead in EU elections, according to French opinion poll institutes. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

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Alice Weidel, center, and Tino Chrupalla, center rught, both AfD federal chairmen, cheer at the AfD party headquarters during the forecast for the European elections, in Berlin, Sunday June 9, 2024. (Joerg Carstensen/dpa via AP)

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A woman exits a voting cabin after casting her vote in European and local elections in Baleni, Romania, Sunday, June 9, 2024. Tens of millions across the European Union were voting in EU parliamentary elections on Sunday in a massive exercise of democracy that is expected to shift the bloc to the right and redirect its future. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

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An elderly man casts his ballot in a mobile ballot box during European Parliamentary elections, in Budapest, Hungary, Sunday, June 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos)

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Traditional Hungarian horse-herdsman, so-called csikos, Janos Garai, casts his vote at a polling station during the European Parliament and local elections, in Hortobagy, Hungary, Sunday, June 9, 2024. Voters across the European Union are going to the polls on the final day of voting for the European parliamentary elections to choose their representatives for the next five-year term. (Zsolt Czegledi/MTI via AP)

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People vote in European and local elections in Baleni, Romania, Sunday, June 9, 2024. Voters across the European Union are going to the polls on the final day of voting for the European parliamentary elections to choose their representatives for the next five-year term. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

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Social Democrats party leader Magdalena Andersson casts her vote, during the European Parliament elections, at Skuru sports hall in Nacka, Stockholm, Sweden, Sunday June 9, 2024. Polling stations have opened across Europe as voters from 20 countries cast ballots in elections that are expected to shift the European Union’s parliament to the right and could reshape the future direction of the world’s biggest trading bloc. (Oscar Olsson /TT News Agency via AP)

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Katharina Moser, dressed in traditional Black Forest attire. with red Bollenhut hat, casts her ballot for the European Parliament elections at the polling stationm in Gutach im Breisgau, Germany, Sunday, June 9, 2024. (Silas Stein/dpa via AP)

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Count staff sort ballots at Nemo Rangers GAA club for the local and European Parliament elections, in Cork, Ireland, Sunday June 9, 2024. (Jonathan Brady/PA via AP)

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Nuns look at ballot papers at a polling station in Pamplona, northern Spain, on Sunday, June 9, 2024. Pivotal elections for the European Union parliament reach their climax Sunday as the last 27 nations go to the polls and results are announced in a vote that boils down to a continent-wide battle between eurosceptic populists and proponents of closer EU unity. (AP Photo/Alvaro Barrientos)

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A view of ballots in a box during the European Parliament elections, Sunday, June 9, 2024 in Paris. Polling stations opened across Europe on Sunday as voters from 20 countries cast ballots in elections that are expected to shift the European Union’s parliament to the right and could reshape the future direction of the world’s biggest trading bloc. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

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Drag queen Bernat Bodes, known as Pitita, left, takes a break from her duties as president of a polling station during the European Parliament elections in Barcelona, Spain, Sunday, June 9, 2024. Polling stations have opened across Europe as voters from 20 countries cast ballots in elections that are expected to shift the European Union’s parliament to the right and could reshape the future direction of the world’s biggest trading bloc. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

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French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte Macron enter a voting booth during the European election, Sunday, June 9, 2024 in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, northern France. Polling stations opened across Europe on Sunday as voters from 20 countries cast ballots in elections that are expected to shift the European Union’s parliament to the right and could reshape the future direction of the world’s biggest trading bloc. (Hannah McKay/Pool via AP)

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A monk from the Sint-Sixtus Abbey opens the curtain to a voting booth after casting his vote in Vleteren, Belgium, Sunday, June 9, 2024. Polling stations opened across Europe on Sunday as voters from 20 countries cast ballots in elections that are expected to shift the European Union’s parliament to the right and could reshape the future direction of the world’s biggest trading bloc. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

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Ursula von der Leyen, left, President of the European Commission, walks to a ballot box outside a polling station in the Hanover region with her husband Heiko to cast her vote in the European Parliament elections, in Burgdorf, Germany on Sunday, June 9, 2024. (Julian Stratenschulte/dpa via AP)

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French President Emmanuel Macron votes during the European election, in Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, northern France, Sunday, June 9, 2024. Polling stations opened across Europe on Sunday as voters from 20 countries cast ballots in elections that are expected to shift the European Union’s parliament to the right and could reshape the future direction of the world’s biggest trading bloc. (Hannah McKay/Pool via AP)

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German Chancellor Olaf Scholz casts his ballot for the European Parliament elections, in Potsdam, Germany, Sunday, June 9, 2024. Tens of millions across the European Union were voting in EU parliamentary elections on Sunday in a massive exercise of democracy that is expected to shift the bloc to the right and redirect its future. (Kay Nietfeld/dpa via AP)

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Greece’s Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis casts his ballot during the European Elections in Athens, Sunday, June 9, 2024. Polling stations opened across Europe on Sunday as voters from 20 countries cast ballots in elections that are expected to shift the European Union’s parliament to the right and could reshape the future direction of the world’s biggest trading bloc. (AP Photo/Yorgos Karahalis)

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From left, Ricarda Lang, Federal Chairperson of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, Terry Reintke, the Greens’ lead candidate for the 2024 European elections, and Omid Nouripour, Federal Chairperson of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, react to the first projections at the Greens’ election party in the Columbiahalle, in Berlin, Sunday June 9, 2024. (Christoph Soeder/dpa via AP)

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Far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) top candidate for the European Parliament elections Maximilian Krah casts his vote for the European Parliament and local elections at a polling station in Dresden, Germany, Sunday, June 9, 2024. Voters across the European Union are going to the polls on the final day of voting for the European parliamentary elections to choose their representatives for the next five-year term. (Robert Michael/dpa via AP)

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French far-right leader Marine Le Pen casts her ballot to vote for the European election, Sunday, June 9, 2024 in Henin-Beaumont, northern France. Polling stations opened across Europe on Sunday as voters from 20 countries cast ballots in elections that are expected to shift the European Union’s parliament to the right and could reshape the future direction of the world’s biggest trading bloc. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

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Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who leads a centrist, pro-EU party, votes in the election for the European Parliament, in Warsaw, Poland, on Sunday June 9, 2024. Polling stations have opened across Europe as voters from 20 countries cast ballots in elections that are expected to shift the European Union’s parliament to the right and could reshape the future direction of the world’s biggest trading bloc. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

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People queue to vote for the European Parliament elections, Sunday, June 9, 2024 in Paris. Polling stations opened across Europe on Sunday as voters from 20 countries cast ballots in elections that are expected to shift the European Union’s parliament to the right and could reshape the future direction of the world’s biggest trading bloc. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

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A woman casts her ballot for the European elections in a polling station in Frankfurt, Germany, Sunday, June 9, 2024. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

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A man shows his voting card in a voting station during the European election, Sunday, June 9, 2024 in Paris. Polling stations opened across Europe on Sunday as voters from 20 countries cast ballots in elections that are expected to shift the European Union’s parliament to the right and could reshape the future direction of the world’s biggest trading bloc. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

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A woman prepares to cast her ballot for the European Parliament election, at the Aalborg Congress and Culture Center, in Aalborg, Denmark, Sunday, June 9, 2024. Polling stations have opened across Europe as voters from 20 countries cast ballots in elections that are expected to shift the European Union’s parliament to the right and could reshape the future direction of the world’s biggest trading bloc. (Henning Bagger /Ritzau Scanpix via AP)

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Women talk before entering a polling station in Milan, Italy, Sunday, June 9, 2024. Tens of millions across the European Union were voting in EU parliamentary elections on Sunday in a massive exercise of democracy that is expected to shift the bloc to the right and redirect its future. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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Ambulance workers fill their ballots during the European Parliament election in Tallinn, Estonia, Sunday, June 9, 2024. Polling stations opened across Europe on Sunday as voters from 20 countries cast ballots in elections that are expected to shift the European Union’s parliament to the right and could reshape the future direction of the world’s biggest trading bloc. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

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French far-right National Rally lead candidate Jordan Bardella delivers a speech at the party election night headquarters, Sunday, June 9, 2024 in Paris. First projected results from France put far-right National Rally party well ahead in EU elections, according to French opinion poll institutes. (AP Photo/Lewis Joly)

By LORNE COOK, RAF CASERT and SAMUEL PETREQUIN

BRUSSELS (AP) — Far-right parties rattled the traditional powers in the European Union and made major gains in parliamentary elections Sunday, dealing an especially humiliating defeat to French President Emmanuel Macron.

On a night where the 27-member bloc palpably shifted to the right, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni more than doubled her seats in the EU parliament. And even if the Alternative for Germany extreme right party was hounded by scandal involving candidates, it still rallied enough seats to sweep past the slumping Social Democrats of Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Sensing a threat from the far right, the Christian Democrats of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had already shifted further to the right on migration and climate ahead of the elections — and were rewarded by remaining by far the biggest group in the 720-seat European Parliament and de facto brokers of the ever expanding powers of the legislature.

Undoubtedly however, the star on a stunning electoral night was the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen, which dominated the French polls to such an extent that Macron immediately dissolved the national parliament and called for new elections. It was a massive political risk since his party could suffer more losses, hobbling the rest of his presidential term that ends in 2027.

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Le Pen was delighted to accept the challenge. “We’re ready to turn the country around, ready to defend the interests of the French, ready to put an end to mass immigration,” she said, echoing the rallying cry of so many far-right leaders in other countries who were celebrating substantial wins.

Her National Rally won over 30% or about twice as much as Macron’s pro-European centrist Renew party that is projected to reach less than 15%.

Macron acknowledged the thud of defeat. “I’ve heard your message, your concerns, and I won’t leave them unanswered,” he said, adding that calling a snap election only underscored his democratic credentials.

In Germany, the most populous nation in the 27-member bloc, projections indicated that the AfD overcame a string of scandals involving its top candidate to rise to 16.5%, up from 11% in 2019. In comparison, the combined result for the three parties in the German governing coalition barely topped 30%.

Scholz suffered such an ignominious fate that his long-established Social Democratic party fell behind the extreme-right Alternative for Germany, which surged into second place. “After all the prophecies of doom, after the barrage of the last few weeks, we are the second strongest force,” a jubilant AfD leader Alice Weidel said.

The four-day polls in the 27 EU countries were the world’s second-biggest exercise in democracy, behind India’s recent election.

Overall across the EU, two mainstream and pro-European groups, the Christian Democrats and the Socialists, remained the dominant forces. The gains of the far right came at the expense of the Greens, who were expected to lose about 20 seats and fall back to sixth position in the legislature. Macron’s pro-business Renew group also lost big.

For decades, the European Union, which has its roots in the defeat of Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, confined the hard right to the political fringes. With its strong showing in these elections, the far right could now become a major player in policies ranging from migration to security and climate.

To stave that off, von der Leyen offered to build a coalition with the Social Democrats and the pro-business Liberals. Since the Christian Democrats won seats while the two others lost, von der Leyen can do so from a position of strength.

“We are by far the strongest party, We are the anchor of stability,” von der Leyen regaled. Reflecting on the rise of the far-right and a good showing of the far-left, von der Leyen added that “the result comes with great stability for the parties in the center. We all have interest in stability and we all want a strong and effective Europe”

In the legislature, provisional results showed that the Christian Democrats would have 189 seats, up 13, the Social Democrats 135, down 4 and the pro-business Renew group 83, down 19. The Greens slumped to 53, down 18.

Germany, traditionally a stronghold for environmentalists, exemplified the humbling of the Greens, who were predicted to fall from 20% to 12%. With further losses expected in France and elsewhere, the defeat of the Greens could well have an impact on the EU’s overall climate change policies, still the most progressive across the globe.

The center-right Christian Democratic bloc of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, which already weakened its green credentials ahead of the polls, dominated in Germany with almost 30%, easily beating Scholz’s Social Democrats, who fell to 14%, even behind the AfD.

The electoral shift to the right could make it harder for the EU to pass legislation, and decision-making could at times be paralyzed in the world’s biggest trading bloc.

EU lawmakers, who serve a five-year term, have a say in issues from financial rules to climate and agriculture policy. They approve the EU budget, which bankrolls priorities including infrastructure projects, farm subsidies and aid delivered to Ukraine. And they hold a veto over appointments to the powerful EU commission.

The elections come at a testing time for voter confidence in a bloc of some 450 million people. Over the last five years, the EU has been shaken by the coronavirus pandemic, an economic slump and an energy crisis fueled by the biggest land conflict in Europe since World War II. But political campaigning often focuses on issues of concern in individual countries rather than on broader European interests.

Since the last EU election in 2019, populist or far-right parties now lead governments in three nations — Hungary, Slovakia and Italy — and are part of ruling coalitions in others including Sweden, Finland and, soon, the Netherlands. Polls give the populists an advantage in France, Belgium, Austria and Italy.

“Right is good,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who leads a stridently nationalist and anti-migrant government, told reporters after casting his ballot. “To go right is always good. Go right!”

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Associated Press writers Sylvain Plazy in Brussels and Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

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See AP’s coverage of global elections in 2024 here.