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SVETLANA A. TATUNTSа
аLomonosov Moscow State University
KATHARINA BERNDTb
bDüsseldorf Adult Education Center (Germany P. B. 40200 Düsseldorf)
DOI: 10.22394/2070-8378-2019-21-5-76-82
Abstract:
Contrary to the expectations of Euro-skeptics, political leaders and parts of the expert community, neither the traditional centrist parties nor the right-wing populist parties (with the exception of France, Italy, Hungary and Poland) were able to conquer the majority of the votes in the May 2019 elections to the European Parliament. On popularity and electoral support they conceded to ‘green’ parties – defenders of ecology and climate. The authors of the article point to the demographic renewal of voters and their activity on social networks during the election campaign. Among the factors that played an important role in mobilizing young voters who came to the ballot box to vote for the European Parliament, the average age of whose members is a solid 55 years, were the desire to protect the idea of Europe from the right-populist and nationalist parties and participation in mass protests of schoolchildren, students, young people against the threat of global warming, held every Friday in many ‘old’ EU countries. This led to a significant success of the European ‘green’ parties, which received a record-breaking 74 mandates. The tools used by European structures to inform voters about the entire spectrum of the political landscape of the EU countries are revealed. The authors believe that the important outcome of the European elections is not only the active participation of young people, but also the actual end of the two-party system that prevailed in the European Parliament and the complete political fragmentation of the EU legislature, which can lead to a violation of the long-term stability of this structure. The authors explain the modest results of the right-populist parties in the elections to the European Parliament by the explicit position of European youth, who believe in the future of a United Europe, oppose euroscepticism and separatism, populism and nationalism.
Keywords:
elections, European Parliament, right-wing populism, centrist parties, political fragmentation, European Union, European Commission
Received:
October 6, 2019
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