Europe set for hard-Right coalitions as parties in France and Netherlands rush to agree alliances – after shock EU Parliament elections

Hard-right parties in France and the Netherlands rushed to forge alliances yesterday after a shockwave in support in the European Parliament elections.

In France, the leader of the conservative party Les Republicains, Eric Ciotti, called for an alliance with Marine Le Pen’s hard-right National Rally (RN) during this month’s snap elections.

Ms Le Pen welcomed his announcement as a “brave choice”, although leading members of Mr Ciotti’s party accused him of treason and called for him to resign. It is the first time that a leader of a traditional party has supported an alliance with RN, where the parties can field joint candidates or agree not to run against each other.

In the Netherlands, populist leader Geert Wilders claimed that the four parties negotiating to form a coalition government had agreed on a cabinet team.

Marine Le Pen pictured on voting day for Saturday’s European Parliament elections at a polling station in Henin-Beaumont, northern France

Mr Wilders, whose Freedom Party won national elections more than six months ago and came second in last weekend’s Dutch European Parliament vote, said: ‘There is a deal, you will hear more in the coming hours and days. ‘ Future ministers still face hurdles before a new government can be sworn in, but an agreement on the coalition cabinet would be an important step toward forming the first Dutch government led by a hard-right party. Elsewhere, Austria became the latest European country to announce elections, which will take place in September.

The hard-right Freedom Party narrowly won European Parliament elections for the first time, part of a surge in support across much of the continent, and polls show it has a clear lead in national elections.

Turnout in last weekend’s European elections was 50.93 percent, a slight increase on the 50.66 who voted in 2019.

Police ignore burning of waste during ‘anti-fascist rally’ after European election results in Toulouse

Activists and demonstrators take part in ‘anti-fascist rally’

The centre-right European People’s Party remained the largest in the European Parliament, but the increase in the number of seats for far-right parties will lead to increased calls for stricter immigration policies.

In France, President Emmanuel Macron denied accusations that he had taken a reckless gamble with the country’s political future by calling early elections. He called this ‘a gesture of great confidence in the French people’.

An opinion poll on Monday showed that 19 percent of voters would support Macron’s party, while 34 percent would vote for RN.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire admitted that the country could face a “regime crisis.”

Left-wing parties have agreed to form an alliance in a bid to stop RN from winning a majority in the two-round national elections on June 30 and July 7.