The economic crisis, brought about largely by excessive market liberalism, should have benefited the left and its advocacy of strong social policies, but social democratic parties proved unable to take advantage of the situation. Voters, overall, retreated to the safety of center-right conservatism.These elections have confirmed the meltdown of Britain's Labour party, which looks set to come only third, after the Conservative Party and the Euroskeptic UKIP (UK Independence Party), whose aim it is to pull Britain out of the EU. The fate of Prime Minister Gordon Brown, deserted by several of his ministers and increasingly isolated, hangs in the balance.
But the British Labour party is not the only center-left political formation that suffered losses. In countries badly hit by the crisis, the vote was also an opportunity to punish the government at the helm when it hit. Thus in Spain, too, the socialist government lost to its conservative rivals.
In France, the center right and Nicolas Sarkozy, the most outspoken opponent of Turkey's EU membership, emerged as the big winner. Only a few days ago, the French president was sparring with US President Barack Obama over Turkey, voicing yet again his opposition to Turkey's eventual entry into the European club. His German colleague, Angela Merkel, who also favors “privileged partnership” with Ankara but is usually more diplomatic than the French president, was also strengthened by the poll.
The multicultural Europe that has emerged in the past decades has clearly not been fully digested by public opinion. While in most countries, political parties, particularly with left or green agendas, acknowledged their countries' diversity and fielded candidates of immigrant origins including quite a few Turks, parties campaigning on nationalist and anti-immigrant platforms have made important breakthroughs.
In Britain, the extreme-right British National Party, whose candidates talked of “freeing Britain from EU dictatorship,” won seats for the first time. In the Netherlands, the maverick Geert Wilders, well known for his anti-Islam and anti-immigration views, captured 17 percent of the vote.
Inward-looking nationalism and Euroskepticism are not limited to “old” Europe.
In Hungary, too, the ruling socialist party was routed by the center right, while the radical Jobbik party, which boasts paramilitaries wearing the dark shirts favored by Nazis, will be one of the most controversial formations to send representatives to the European Parliament. In Romania, the far right won two seats.
To what extent these elections truly present an accurate political picture of Europe is unclear: The selection of MEPs does not mobilize large crowds, and only 43 percent of voters bothered to make their opinions heard, even less than in the last EP elections. A substantial minority of those did choose to back parties that are openly skeptical about the European project. On a more positive note, environmental concerns brought the Greens an increased share of the vote.
While Turkey feels targeted and singled out by an important segment of European public opinion hesitant about its EU bid -- often rightly so -- the overall picture suggests a lack of interest, and even misgivings, about the European project in many member countries that have little to do with Ankara's bid.
Electors voted mainly on national issues; the opinions they expressed had more to do with domestic fears about the economy, high unemployment and immigration and anger toward national politicians rather than a greater European vision. Many MEPs are barely known, campaigning was relatively low key and political parties were not always very skillful at conveying the importance of voting for a body that actually represents the European public and has become increasingly powerful.
The European Union is now part of the political landscape and accepted as such by the majority in member countries, but more than five decades after the Treaty of Rome, the EU is still a work in progress, and one that, for all its successes and the stability it has brought, has yet to get its message across to the general public.
