Why Eurosceptics still won’t be able to crash the EU Parliament

The results from the European parliamentary elections shows how EU politics is increasingly polarised. It also demonstrates how old party allegiances are fading in favour of loyalties for parties with more specific ideological and policy platforms. Against the backdrop of Brexit and divisions convulsing global politics, these elections – which have been marked by issues such as immigration and climate change becoming inextricably linked to the role of the EU – saw the highest participation in 20 years. Fragmentation that is shaking up politics domestically has been transferred to the European level.

So what do these elections mean for the health of the EU project? Although they are fought on national issues in many cases, the heightened significance of EU dimension in countries that are being governed by parties with an emphatic positive or negative stance on the EU cannot be ignored. This is particularly the case for two of the EU’s founding members, France and Italy.