And when the AP is sad, freedom advances.
Far-right parties made big gains in the European Parliament in election results that rattled the traditional powers and made French President Emmanuel Macron call snap legislative elections.
By "far-right" they mean "supporting limits on immigration."
Which everyone except the woke left does.
So everyone apart from the hardcore extremists of the woke left are now "far-right."
Macron's party suffered a heavy defeat from the far-right National Rally party, while in Germany support for Olaf Scholz's center-left Social Democrats sank to a projected 14%, behind the extreme-right Alternative for Germany, which surged into second place.
Millions of Europeans voted for candidates to serve five-year terms in a new European Parliament, the legislative branch of the 27-member trade bloc. Provisional results from the voting that ended Sunday showed the Christian Democrats would have 189 seats, up 13, the Social Democrats 135, down 4 and the pro-business Renew group 83, down 19. The Greens slumped to 53, down 18.
Emmanuel Macron, who was forced to greet American veterans while "Doctor" Jill Biden wiped Joe's ass of the poppie, has called for snap elections to try to strengthen his grasp.
The EU Parliament elections don't have anything to do (directly) with the French National Assembly, but I guess he wants a show of force against the "far-right."
I hope he loses, but he probably won't. As the last 15 years should have taught everyone, Le Pen's National Rally party simply does not have majority support. The NR will make it to the run-off, then lose.
In an address to the nation from the Elysee presidential palace, Macron said: "I've decided to give you back the choice of our parliamentary future through the vote. I am therefore dissolving the National Assembly." The vote will take place in two rounds on June 30 and July 7, he said.
The move comes as first projected results from France on Sunday put the far-right National Rally party well ahead in the European Union's parliamentary election, defeating Macron's pro-European centrists, according to French opinion poll institutes.
Who knows, maybe it will be different this time. But the more centrist party, Les Republicains, are like NeverTrumpers-- they pose as opposing the left, but given a choice between the left and an anti-immigration populist, they'll choose the left.
Or at least they have done before.
Germany has ruled the AfD a threat to democracy and its spy agencies claim a right to surveil the party and interfere in elections. But they increased their representation in the EU Parliament, too.
Huh -- a popular party that refutes the claims made by the unpopular leftwing coalition is a "threat to democracy" and must be subverted by the intelligence agencies. Where have I heard this before?
It's all done to Save Muh Democracy, remember.
Germany's unpopular governing parties sank to feeble results and the far-right Alternative for Germany made gains in Sunday's vote for the European Parliament, while the mainstream conservative opposition was the country's strongest political force by a distance, projections showed.
Projections for ARD and ZDF public television, based on exit polls and partial counting, showed support for Chancellor Olaf Scholz's center-left Social Democrats at around 14%, below the 15.8% they managed in 2019 -- already their worst post-World War II result in a nationwide vote. After a campaign in which Scholz played a prominent role, the Social Democrats fell more than 10 points short of their showing in Germany's last national election in 2021.
Alternative for Germany, or AfD, was seen winning just over 16% of the vote for a probable second-place finish. That's better than its showing of 11% in 2019 but still some way short of its poll ratings at the beginning of the year. The party has seen a string of setbacks since then, including scandals surrounding its two lead candidates for the European Parliament.
Italy's Georgia Meloni has been strengthened by the vote.
Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni hosts this week's summit of the Group of Seven industrialized nations as the most stable European Union leader.
Meloni's German and French counterparts were shaken by European parliamentary elections that fortified Meloni's far-right Brothers of Italy as the strongest in Italy, setting her up as a possible bridge maker, if not kingmaker, in Europe.
Meloni's solid results create a rare stability in Italian politics, as far-right parties rattled both French President Emmanuel Macron, who called snap elections after his party was eclipsed by Marine Le Pen's National Rally, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, whose authority suffered a jolt after the far-right Alternative for German finished second, beating his Social Democrats.
"I am proud that this nation presents itself at the G7, and in Europe, as the strongest government of all,'' Meloni told supporters early Monday. "This is something that has never happened in the past, and which is happening now. It is a satisfaction, and also a great responsibility.''
The "centrist" Polish PM barely clinged to power but the populist right gained in support.
Many viewed Tusk's return to power last year as a rare case of a democratic party prevailing over populist and authoritarian forces. However, while Sunday's win solidified his position, the results also showed that his lead is small, and that support for the far right is rising.
There's that "far right" again.
In Belgium, the "far right" party failed to garner the most votes, being held off by the "right wing" party.
Flemish nationalist parties dominated general elections in Belgium on Sunday as Prime minister Alexander De Croos liberal party took a hit, with difficult coalition talks to form a new government now looming.
Despite polls predicting that the far-right, anti-immigration Vlaams Belang party would become the main political force in the country with 11.5 million inhabitants, the right-wing nationalist New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) retained its first spot, with an expected 22% of the votes, according to provisional results provided by the Interior ministry.
The Vlaams Belang came in second position, with a share of 17.5%, ahead of the Socialist Voruit party, which garnered about 10.5% of the votes.
I think the "far right" party (this is AP's term) was probably hurt by a surge in voting for Flemish separatist parties. You can imagine that voters sick of the system might skip right past the "far right" alternative and just vote for a National Divorce from the Regime.
The populist leader of Hungary won another election with 44% of the vote and with a majority of the representatives in parliament, but the AP brands it a loss.
The AP calls the loss by Orban's main challenger a "major win."
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's nationalist party took the most votes in Sunday's European Parliament elections but sharply underperformed its past dominance in a race that pitted the long-serving leader against a new challenger that has upended Orbán's grip on Hungarian politics.
With 85% of votes counted, Orbán's Fidesz party had 44% of the vote, enough to send 11 delegates of Hungary's 21 total seats in the European Union's legislature.
While Fidesz took a plurality of votes, it was down sharply from 52% support in 2019 EU elections and looked set to lose two seats in what was widely seen as a referendum on Orbán's popularity.
"Down sharply" from a majority to a large plurality.
Cope and seethe, AP. Cope and seethe.
Still, while speaking to supporters at a party event Sunday, Orbán claimed victory over his opponents.
He claimed victory. I mean, he actually won, but the AP thinks his opponent won a moral victory, so he's lying when he "claims" a victory.
Dee you lying vicious bitch.