European Council on Foreign Relations: European-sceptic populists are close to dominating the European Parliament
A report by a European research center said that opponents of European unity are close to controlling the European Parliament for the first time in the history of the European Union through elections scheduled to be held next June.
According to the report issued by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), right-wing populist parties opposed to European unity will win the lead in nine EU countries, including Austria, Belgium, France and the Netherlands.
These parties will come in second and third places in nine other European countries, according to the study.
It’s expected that the coalition of right-wing populist parties will replace the majority coalition in the current parliament, which is made up of centrist parties and groups.
The study also says that right-wing populist parties may obstruct the Union’s plans to confront climate change and policies related to environmental protection.
According to the study, the ability of the European Commission and the European Council to make foreign policy decisions, such as supporting Ukraine in its war against Russia, could also be undermined.
The study said that populist parties will benefit from farmers’ and fishermen’s anger at the union’s policies seeking to protect the environment, which often constitute a burden on them and limit their incomes, which will make them vote for parties opposed to those policies.
