EU Elections: Populists Hope to Do Well in Suburbs
The winners and losers in European Parliament elections next week are likely to be determined in the suburbs of the continent's cities, which are turning into three-way electoral battlegrounds.
The elections are being seen as a moment of truth for an array of anti-migrant nationalist populist parties, which hope to reverse European integration.
Establishment Conservatives are hoping they can shore up their support in the suburbs in the face of strong challenges from left-wing progressives and nationalist populists, who have been campaigning against EU integration and for a "Europe of Fatherlands."
Populists are forecast to make significant gains in the May 23-26 elections and to grab votes from the dominant center-right parties aligned with the European People's Party (EPP).
The election is expected to result in a more divided Parliament with a reduced pro-EU majority. A third of the lawmakers in the 751-seat body could end up being drawn from euroskeptic populist parties, which oppose increasing EU power.
On Thursday, European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker expressed his alarm at the prospect, warning in an interview with the Austrian Der Standard newspaper that the EU could be "incapacitated" as a result. "I see this election as serene and calm, but deeply concerning, because I see the margins of the political spectrum questioning the European project," he said……….
https://www.voanews.com/a/eu-parliament-elections-populists/4920214.html