Dutch voters yesterday started a four-day election marathon across the 27 nations of the EU, providing an early litmus test of how far-right the next EU parliament might shift.
Crisp sunny weather greeted early-morning voters at the Town Hall in The Hague, some of whom showed up before polling opened, snapping selfies before casting their ballot.
“I want the EU to change. I don’t like the way it’s going,” Simone Nieuwenhuys said after giving her vote to the far-right Freedom Party (PVV) of Geert Wilders.
Photo: EPA-EFE
“Normally I wouldn’t vote PVV, but I want an extra voice that puts on the brakes,” said the 48-year-old government finance employee, naming asylum and immigration policy as the key issues for her.
The EU’s 370 million voters are called to the polls at a time of deep geopolitical uncertainty for the bloc, two-and-a-half years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The bulk of countries including powerhouses France and Germany are to vote on Sunday, but the opening contest in the Netherlands would offer a glimpse of the strength of the far-right — whose predicted surge is the election’s top issue.
Photo: AFP
Wilders’ PVV, the surprise winner of national elections in November last year, is projected to top the EU polls. Though it dropped its pledge of a “Nexit” referendum on leaving the bloc, the PVV’s manifesto remains fiercely euroskeptic.
Claudia Balhuizen, who was first in line to vote at her polling station in The Hague, called his rise a “wake-up” call.
Wilders “is getting a lot more attractive for a lot of people and I can understand that,” said the 42-year-old engineer, who named climate as a crucial issue for her because “we are messing up the planet.”
She saw the European elections as a way to “understand each other better.”
“We have to take into account different cultures, different world views,” Balhuizen said.
The Netherlands is just one of a long list of countries where nationalist, far-right and other euroskeptic forces are expected to come out on top in the EU vote. Polls suggest the hard-right could grab about one-quarter of the new parliament’s 720 seats — significant enough to sway EU policy.
The results could also impact Brussels’ approach to climate change, relations with the US and China, support for Ukraine, EU enlargement and adapting to artificial intelligence innovations.
Outgoing European Parliament President Roberta Metsola Roberta Metsola used social media to urge a big turn out, telling voters: “Choose your future and make your voice heard.”
After the dust settles, the weightings of the emerging political groupings would help EU leaders decide who takes the bloc’s top institutional jobs, including at the European Commission.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, a German polyglot, is trying for a second term and seen as the front-runner, though diplomats caution that is not a given.
If tapped by member states, Von der Leyen would still need to lock in support from parliament — or it would be back to square one and potentially months before the EU’s next boss is known.
OPTIMISTIC: A Philippine Air Force spokeswoman said the military believed the crew were safe and were hopeful that they and the jet would be recovered A Philippine Air Force FA-50 jet and its two-person crew are missing after flying in support of ground forces fighting communist rebels in the southern Mindanao region, a military official said yesterday. Philippine Air Force spokeswoman Colonel Consuelo Castillo said the jet was flying “over land” on the way to its target area when it went missing during a “tactical night operation in support of our ground troops.” While she declined to provide mission specifics, Philippine Army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala confirmed that the missing FA-50 was part of a squadron sent “to provide air support” to troops fighting communist rebels in
PROBE: Last week, Romanian prosecutors launched a criminal investigation against presidential candidate Calin Georgescu accusing him of supporting fascist groups Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Romania’s capital on Saturday in the latest anti-government demonstration by far-right groups after a top court canceled a presidential election in the EU country last year. Protesters converged in front of the government building in Bucharest, waving Romania’s tricolor flags and chanting slogans such as “down with the government” and “thieves.” Many expressed support for Calin Georgescu, who emerged as the frontrunner in December’s canceled election, and demanded they be resumed from the second round. George Simion, the leader of the far-right Alliance for the Unity of Romanians (AUR), which organized the protest,
ECONOMIC DISTORTION? The US commerce secretary’s remarks echoed Elon Musk’s arguments that spending by the government does not create value for the economy US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Sunday said that government spending could be separated from GDP reports, in response to questions about whether the spending cuts pushed by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency could possibly cause an economic downturn. “You know that governments historically have messed with GDP,” Lutnick said on Fox News Channel’s Sunday Morning Futures. “They count government spending as part of GDP. So I’m going to separate those two and make it transparent.” Doing so could potentially complicate or distort a fundamental measure of the US economy’s health. Government spending is traditionally included in the GDP because
Hundreds of people in rainbow colors gathered on Saturday in South Africa’s tourist magnet Cape Town to honor the world’s first openly gay imam, who was killed last month. Muhsin Hendricks, who ran a mosque for marginalized Muslims, was shot dead last month near the southern city of Gqeberha. “I was heartbroken. I think it’s sad especially how far we’ve come, considering how progressive South Africa has been,” attendee Keisha Jensen said. Led by motorcycle riders, the mostly young crowd walked through the streets of the coastal city, some waving placards emblazoned with Hendricks’s image and reading: “#JUSTICEFORMUHSIN.” No arrest
RSS