BBC: What do these European elections and the rise of the far right tell us?

In Brussels, at an earlier summit of EU leaders, Emmanuel Macron was sometimes accused of trying to “steal” the spotlight.

He certainly achieved that on Sunday night, although perhaps not in the way he wanted, the BBC writes.

Mr Macron dominated the headlines as votes for the European Parliament were still being counted.

President Emmanuel Macron called early parliamentary elections on Sunday after his camp lost the National Assembly by a landslide to the far-right party.

He toyed with the idea last year after being defeated in France’s last general election, but few now expect the move.

Emmanuel Macron describes himself as a centrist and passionate European.

The two rounds of early general elections on June 30 and July 7 will see Macron pitted against a French prime minister from the Eurosceptic far-right.

Marine Le Pen, consistently portrayed as his political rival, said her party was ready to govern.

It has also happened in France that the country’s most powerful politician, the President and the Prime Minister, come from different political parties.

But if the new prime minister comes from the far right, it will be a first for France.

Marine Le Pen has worked hard in recent years to increase her party’s appeal and reduce its extremist image.

He and his supporters hope that this remarkable victory in the European Parliament (his party won twice as many votes as President Macron’s) will become a huge victory in the upcoming snap election.

His dream is to eventually win the upcoming parliamentary elections, or his most popular protégé, Jordan Bartella, 28, to take a big step closer to becoming France’s president. The next presidential vote in France is scheduled for 2027.

Going into this European Parliament election, the hard right and the nationalist right have scored victories in many parts of the EU, with voters worried about migration, inflation and the costs of environmental reforms.

But it is unclear whether they can actually influence future EU policy.

Most of the seats in the legislative chamber where European bloc laws are debated, amended, accepted or rejected are in the hands of centrist parties.

To influence EU policy, far-right parties across the bloc must unite to gain more power.

And it’s a challenge. They have different national priorities and deep differences such as how much the EU should support Ukraine versus Russia.

An issue affecting the lives of all EU citizens, which has already had a right-wing influence, is environmental reform. It is a priority for the EU to spend trillions of euros as the bloc aims to become a world leader in climate action.

But the Greens have already lost 20 seats in the EU Parliament vote.

Faced with a cost-of-living crisis, EU taxpayers are increasingly skeptical and resistant to new environmental rules.

Farmers across the EU have staged massive protests against what they label environmental rules as unfair and destructive.

Europe’s hard-right has made the most of their grievances, taking on “far-flung elites” in Brussels and national governments to present themselves as the voice of the people.

Consequence: Under this pressure, many EU environmental regulations have been reduced or repealed, including a pesticide rule.

Some far-right nationalists have become increasingly popular to attract more voters, and many center-right politicians have adopted far-right language on hot buttons like migration and the environment in an effort to retain supporters. .