Macron calls for snap election after EU ‘drubbing.’ What does it mean?

Jun 10

Karah Rucker Anchor

By Karah Rucker (Anchor), Brent Jabbour (Senior Producer), Emma Stoltzfus (Editor)

Over the last several days, hundreds of thousands of people across the European Union’s 27 nations voted in the European Parliament elections. While centrists remain in the majority, far-right parties from throughout the bloc made inroads picking up a record number of seats.

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The European Parliament is the legislative body for the 27 member states of the EU. The governing body works with the European Commission.

“The commission responds to the Parliament just like any democracy,” Dan Hamilton, a senior fellow with the Foreign Policy Institute at Johns Hopkins University and former deputy assistant secretary of state for Europe, told Straight Arrow News. “The commission is like the executive branch, and the Parliament is the legislative branch.”

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The European Parliament consists of 720 seats in total and roughly 150 of those went to what are characterized as far-right parties.

“There were some far right or hard right gains in a few countries, and that got the headlines,” Hamilton said. “The center, kind of held yesterday. Conservative mainstream got the largest amount of votes. The Social Democrats, the kind of center-left, lost a few votes, but not too much. And then the liberals, in the European sense of liberal, not the U.S. sense, liberals in Europe are more like Wall Street Republicans. They did badly, but not everywhere.”

While moderates remain in the majority in the European Parliament, French voters dealt a blow to President Emmanuel Macron, which could have a lasting impact. Macron-opponent Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party made significant gains, doubling the votes received by the French president’s party.

The situation resulted in Macron calling for a snap election. A snap election is an election called earlier than expected. Generally, this is done in parliamentary systems where a prime minister is chosen from lawmakers of the ruling party or a coalition government. In that system, Parliament is dissolved and all seats are up for election again.

In the case of France, the nation’s lower chamber, the National Assembly, is dissolved. The first round of the election will be held on June 30, and the second round takes place on July 7. France’s Senate cannot be dissolved.

While terms like dissolving Parliament sound like chaos, this process is not all that uncommon. The United Kingdom will hold a snap general election on July 4 after polling showed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s party had lost some favorability in the nation.

“You’re going to suddenly have two big elections in the next few weeks in France and the U.K., in which probably the hard right wins in France, but the Social Democrats, the Labor Party wins in the U.K.,” Hamilton said of the situation.

However, Hamilton said that while Macron may not have received a favorable turnout in the EU election, he is hoping for a higher turnout later this month.

“People aren’t that interested in, you know, the European Parliament,” Hamilton said. “Many of them don’t know what it does, either. So it’s a lower turnout. But European turnout is usually higher than American turnout for almost any election.”

“Most of the elections to the European Parliament turn on national issues. People are focused on their issues at home, not really on, quote, European issues,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton added that voters in the EU looked at many of the same issues that American voters will be focused on come November.

“Migration is a big issue in Europe, illegal migration, in particular, the economy, inflation,” he said. “European gas prices are about four times what they are in the United States. You think we have it bad?”

“And they have some divisions over how to support Ukraine, how far do you go? So you know, they’re kind of similar issues,” Hamilton added.

Tags: 2024 Elections, Emmanuel Macron, Europe, European Union, France, Rishi Sunak, United Kingdom

[Dan Hamilton]
“Our European colleagues had a big exercise in democracy. You know, that’s the second largest democratic election in the world, after India’s democracy votes.”

[Karah Rucker]

In the last several days, hundreds of millions of voters from the European Union’s 27 member states went to the polls to select who will represent them in the bloc’s parliament.

[Dan Hamilton]
My name’s Dan Hamilton. I’m a senior fellow at Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
And I’ve been working on transatlantic issues for a long time. I also was in the State Department as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Europe.

[Karah Rucker]
The European Parliament’s biggest function is working on the bloc’s budget and ratifying things like trade agreements.

So far the takeaway has been the record gains for the E.U. ‘s far right parties, but they only account for around 150 of the 720 seats that were up for grabs.

[Dan Hamilton]
“There were some far right or hard right, you know, gains in a few countries, and that that got the headlines.”

“the center, kind of held yesterday. Conservative mainstream got the largest votes. The Social Democrats, the kind of center left, lost a few votes, but not too much. And then the liberals in European sense of liberal, not us sense liberals in Europe are more like Wall Street. Republicans. They did badly, but not everywhere.”

[Karah Rucker]

While moderates still hold majorities in E.U. Parliament, the French electorate dealt a blow to President Emmanual Macron.

Marine Le Pen’s nationalist National Rally party made significant gains in the E.U. Parliament, prompting a drastic move by the president.

[Dan Hamilton]
“the extreme right got about 35% of the vote, and President Macron party only got about 14% so that was a real drubbing, and that prompted him to call The snap election.”

[Karah Rucker]
A snap election is an election that is called earlier than expected. Generally this is done in the parliamentary systems, where a Prime Minister is chosen from lawmakers of the ruling party. In that system, Parliament is dissolved and everyone is up for election again.

In the case of France, the nation’s lower chamber, the National Assembly is dissolved and the first round of an election will be held June 30, with a second round on July 7.

This isn’t all that uncommon, The U.K. will hold a snap general election on July 4 as polling showed Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s party falling out of favour.

[Dan Hamilton]
“You’re going to have suddenly two big elections in the next few weeks in France and the UK, in which probably the hard right wins in France, but the Social Democrats, the Labor Party wins in the UK.”
[Karah Rucker]
While the numbers may not have been that favorable for Macron’s party in the E.U. elections, he’s hoping for higher turnout in the Snap election.

[Dan Hamilton]
People aren’t that interested in, you know, the European Parliament. Many of them don’t know what it does, either. So it’s a lower turnout. But you know, European turnout is usually higher than American turnout for almost any election.

most of the elections, you know, to the European Parliament, turn on national issues. People are focused on their issues at home, not really on, quote, European issues.

[Karah Rucker]

The issues of E.U. nations aren’t unlike what the U.S. is facing ahead of a contentious election come november.

[Dan Hamilton]

Migration is a big issue in Europe, illegal migration, in particular, the economy, inflation. You know, the price of energy. The European gas prices are about four times what they are in the United States. You think we have it bad?

And they have some divisions over just as we do over how to support Ukraine, how far do you go? So you know, they’re kind of similar issues

[Karah Rucker]

While the issues may be similar, the system is very different. For now, Americans will have to wait until November to weigh in.