After four days of voting with the polls closed in all 27 members of the bloc, the European Union parliamentary elections have delivered a resounding verdict.

Far-right parties have made major gains in a sign of continuity with the anti-establishment sentiment that has swept through Europe for over a decade.

In France, Marine Le Pen‘s National Rally (RN) delivered a crushing defeat to the progressive pro-free market parties with French President Emmanuel Macron calling snap legislative elections on June 30, a move that could inflict further losses on his Renaissance Group.

In Germany, the unpopular center left ruling coalition parties suffered a crushing blow with Chancellor Olaf Scholz‘s Social Democrats recording their worst result in a national vote in more than a century and the extreme right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party putting in a strong show.

In Italy, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, with her far right party, Brothers of Italy, emerged as the largest group strengthening her hand, both at home and abroad.

I am proud that the majority coalition which runs our nation has made gains together.

Italians are urging us to go ahead.

Georgia Meloni, Italian Prime Minister

This EU vote will not only elect 720 lawmakers in the EU parliament but, more importantly, it will decide who takes the helm at the European institutions in Brussels, including the Commission and the Council, at a time when the credibility of the European Union has been severely damaged by its lack of geopolitical autonomy and worsening economic conditions.

The European Union should stand a bit closer to the people.

I hope the new fiscal rules in the stability pact will be reviewed as they are too harsh on us citizens.

Italian Member of Public 01

European Parliament elections have always failed to excite the interest of voters. This latest round of elections has confirmed the trend as barely one out of two voters went to the polls.

For an increasing number of voters, the European Union elections are without a real purpose.

The European Parliament can neither create nor repeal legislation, only the unelected European Commission can, this, together with other crucial issues has estranged EU citizens from the European institutions.

Our distrust in the EU is due to the fact that the EU parliament has a little power compared to the other EU institutions.

The council’s veto power is far more relevant than that of the lawmakers and EU citizens feel excluded from EU decision making.

Italian Member of Public 02

EU citizens are also saying that mainstream media are not fairly covering EU elections.

They are gradually stripping us of our freedom here in Europe, gradually, relentlessly.

They are taking everything away from us, journalists with no backbone are responsible for that, and the TVs are responsible.

So as not to lose their job, journalists are willing to lie to us. I’m really worried.

Italian Member of Public 03

Since the adoption of the single currency in Europe in 2001, the economic situation has worsened for tens of millions of people in the Old Continent.

According to the latest reports by the National Bureau of Statistics, Istat, more than one in four people in Italy currently live in a state of relative poverty.