EU PANIC: Eurosceptic parties expected to win more than one third EU seats in May

EUROSCEPTIC parties could secure more than a third of the European Parliament's seats in the May 2019 election, a new report has revealed warning the alliance of populists parties across the continent could have a "very high cost for liberal internationalists".

By Alessandra Scotto di Santolo, World News Reporter

EU: Parties opposing the union may 'enrich' debate says expert

The report, published by the European Council on Foreign Relations, warns anti-European political parties could join forces in favour of the "return to a Europe of the nations". Although unaligned on many issues, populists parties could agree to push on a common agenda that would see sanctions on Russia abolished, blocking the ’s foreign trade agenda and opposing migration policies. 

The report reads: "The vote could see a group of nationalist anti-European political parties that advocate a return to a “Europe of the nations” win a controlling share of seats in the EP.

"Among them number many figures who are strongly sceptical of free trade, in favour of pulling the drawbridge up against migration, and supportive of Moscow’s arguments about the need to flout international law in the Russian national interest in Ukraine.

"They are not currently a unified alliance but, in an EP in which their voices entered the mainstream, and in an EU in which transactional decision-making was commonplace, they could let all these ideas shape European policy in the medium term.

"And, in the longer term, their ability to paralyse decision-making at the centre of the EU would defuse pro-Europeans’ argument that the project is imperfect but capable of reform. At this point, the EU would be living on borrowed time.

eu news european election may 2019 EP eurosceptic parties

EU news: European Council report warns eurosceptic parties could win more than one third of EP seats (Image: GETTY•SKY)

It’s a problem if people vote for these parties without knowing what that could entail

Pawel Zerka

"Consequently, underestimating the importance of this election could have a very high cost for liberal internationalists across the EU.

"In the battle for EP seats, turnout will be critical in determining how anti-European forces fare.

"If nationalist parties marshal the clearest, loudest, arguments, and significant numbers of anti-Europeans turn out to vote, the views of Europe’s silent majority will be drowned out in the new parliament."

It warns: "Winning more than 33 percent of seats would enable them to form a minority that could block some of the EU’s procedures and make the adoption of new legislation much more cumbersome – with a potentially damaging impact on the content of the EU’s foreign policy, as well as on the EU’s overall institutional readiness and its political credibility to take initiatives in the area."

Pawel Zerka, co-author of the report, told Sky News: “It’s a problem if people vote for these parties without knowing what that could entail.

“One of the things that we show in our studies is that while various anti-European parties in Europe differ in terms of their attitude to climate, gay marriages, exiting or not exiting the EU and other stuff, they might still align.

eu news european elections may 2019 eurosceptic parties

EU news: Table outlines the possible procedural consequences of crossing 33 percent threshold (Image: EUROPEAN COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS)

Brexit: MEPs on how Brexit will influence European elections

“There might still be some horse trading, some tactical alignments because the temptation to have a say on European politics might be too strong in order for them to miss that opportunity.”

Mr Zerka also warned a high number of eurosceptic MEPs could have a domino effect on the election of the next European Commission President. 

The report continues: "The result of the May 2019 election will be instrumental to the composition of the next European Commission (the EU’s main executive body), including the president and the high representative for foreign affairs and security policy.

"Once the Council nominates a candidate for the president of the Commission (with a qualified majority), he or she will need to be approved by a majority of the EP’s component members – that is, at least 353 of 705 MEPs in the post-Brexit EP.

"If the candidate does not obtain the required majority, the president of the EP will invite the European Council to propose a new candidate, who would have to follow the same procedure."

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