The new right-wing governments in Italy and Sweden are changing the political balance of power within the European Union. For the first time, one of the EU’s founding members will be run by a far-right politician. Giorgia Meloni, leader of the post-fascist Fratelli d’Italia party, is expected to represent Italy at the next EU summit. Meloni sees allies in the right-wing and EU-skeptical countries of Poland and Hungary.
This makes the political map of the governments of the European Union even more colorful. The large European party families that have dominated for decades – the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats – have increasingly lost their influence in recent years.
Romania is the largest EPP-administered country
The European People’s Party (EPP), which has been the strongest force in the European Parliament since 1999 and also supplied all the presidents of the European Commission since 2004, is still represented at EU summits with the largest number of heads of state and government since the change in power last year in Germany, however, is no longer a large Member State. Of the eight EU countries in the European Council, Romania is now the largest EPP-administered country with just under 4.3 percent of the EU population. This is followed by Greece, Sweden, Austria, Slovakia, Croatia, Latvia and Cyprus. Overall, conservative-led EU countries represent less than 14 percent of the EU’s population.
Competition is increasingly coming from the right
Most of the countries governed by EPP members are now in Eastern Europe, and competition is increasingly coming from the right. The EPP lost to Poland in 2015, and last year Viktor Orbán’s ruling Hungarian party, FIDESZ, left the EPP. Both countries have been following a socially ultra-conservative course for years, challenging the European Union and the EPP by dismantling the rule of law and democracy.
Group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)
It is here that the new Italian head of government sees her political home. Your Fratelli d’Italia belongs to the group of European Conservatives and Reformists (EKR), such as the Polish ruling party PiS, the German AfD and the Spanish Vox. Incidentally, the ODS of Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala also belongs to the right-wing conservative group. In recent years, however, Fiala has turned the once anti-EU party of former President Václav Klaus into a liberal-conservative party with a moderate Eurosceptic tone and brought it closer to the Czech EPP parties, the KDU-ČSL and the TOP 09.
The European Social Democrats have also seen better days. They are now the heads of government in just six EU countries. However, unlike the Christian Democrats, there are large countries such as Germany or Spain, where more than a third of EU citizens currently live in social-democratic countries.
Liberals gain weight in Europe
Liberals in Europe have gained considerable weight in recent years. Politicians from the liberal party family ALDE, which also includes the NEOS, are currently heads of state or government in six EU countries. France has been a major EU member state since 2017. With Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, four of the six founding states of the EU are governed by liberal governments.
Source: Krone
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
