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Elections for the European parliament, which took place from May 22 to May 25, were deemed as a political earthquake. Parties that were anti-European Union (EU), anti-immigration, and pro-Russian won sizable vote shares across the continent, especially in Western Europe, and significantly increased their representation in the new European Parliament. In France and Great Britain, far-right political parties defeated more moderate liberal and conservative parties and illustrated that predicting future electoral outcomes in these countries will not be easy. Since the parties of the far-right have largely been ostracized in the past due to Europe’s experiences with far-right forces in the lead up to the Second World War, their recent rise has focused attention on the continent’s economic and social problems and put the future of European integration in doubt.
This topic brief will break down the results of the 2014 European parliament elections, analyze the conditions that the far-right have used to their advantage in these recent elections, and discuss whether far-right parties will be able to maintain the political momentum given to them by the recent European elections to become a sizable force on the continent.
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