In a year of big elections worldwide, one of the biggest – with 27 countries voting for a new European Parliament June 6-9 – has just delivered a message similar to those of other recent contests: Voters want leaders to try harder to define a political center.
While right-wing parties made gains in the Continent-wide vote – even forcing a parliamentary election in France in a few weeks – the real story is how much politicians of both the left and the right have been listening to disillusioned voters across Europe, from angry farmers to young people fed up with established parties.
In Germany, for example, a centrist party founded just six months ago by a former leftist leader, Sahra Wagenknecht, won 6% of the vote for the 720-strong European Parliament. In Italy, the party of right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni did well but only after she moderated her views on migration, support for Ukraine, and the European Union. In France, the leader of the far-right National Rally, Marine Le Pen, has learned to accept the Eurocurrency.
Most of all, the center-right party of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen held its own as the Parliament’s major force – after moderating its green policies and tightening migration flows. The election result, said the commission leader, “comes with great responsibility for the parties in the center.”
Being meek enough to listen to voters might pay off. Ms. von der Leyen is expected to be chosen for another five-year term, although much depends on the political parties in Parliament that have repositioned their views and are willing to accommodate each other.
Ms. von der Leyen once worked under longtime German chancellor Angela Merkel, who advised leaders to find a political space within which “different interests can be balanced and compromises reached.” Ms. Merkel also said the best leaders have an inner compass “that is based on overarching values.”
Europe’s identity relies less on victories for the left or right than on how well EU leaders listen to voters who feel left behind – the ones prone to back extremists. “The political earthquakes in Europe are more than just electoral shifts,” wrote pundit Diego Fassnacht in the Asia Times after the election. “As traditional power structures face challenges, new alliances and priorities are emerging.”
And EU leaders again learn that the art of consensus-based decision-making depends how well they listen.