The far right’s election gains rattle EU’s traditional powers, leading Macron to call snap polls

By RAF CASERT, LORNE COOK and SAMUEL PETREQUIN
Associated Press

BRUSSELS (AP) — Far-right parties rattled the traditional powers in the European Union with major gains in parliamentary seats, dealing an especially humiliating defeat to French President Emmanuel Macron, who called snap legislative elections. Some ballots in the vote for the European Parliament were still being counted Monday, but the outcome showed the 27-nation bloc’s parliament membership has clearly shifted to the right. The Christian Democrats of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen remained by far the biggest group and de facto brokers of the ever-expanding powers of the legislature. But the surge by nationalist and populist parties will make it much harder for the assembly to approve legislation on issues ranging from climate change to agriculture policy.