[Beren]

Why populists could struggle to capitalise on EU elections success

Division, briefly.

Nigel Farage, whose Brexit party is one of the biggest national parties in the European parliament, hopes to resuscitate his Eurosceptic group, Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy, in which he is allied to Italy’s Five Star Movement. He has previously ruled out working with Le Pen.

Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party is expected to remain allied to British Tories in the European Conservatives and Reformists group.

Viktor Orbán, currently suspended from the centre-right European People’s party, pending an investigation, has not revealed whether he intends to quit and join forces with the far right.

[Nonsense]

Woopsy.

Again BOycey, you interpret something that is not there, because I was not, repeat, not refering to votes, but the number of MEP's elected.

Not that you could ever understand the difference, .

It's not 32% of the electorate, though, is it?



No, I'm saying the turnout was around half the electorate and I believe it's fair to assume those that did not vote are pretty ambivalent about leaving, no matter what they may thought three years ago.

It stands to reason. Some of the more elderly, for instance, are begining to worry about losing their pensioner freebies when the chickens come home to roost.

It's all very well spouting meaningless soundbites about sovereignty, getting their country back, knuckling down and making Britain great again, and so on and so forth, but not if it means their pockets will be hit.

'Turnout' is the percentage of registered voters that actually voted.

Well, if they are 'ambivalent' it could mean different things, like they are fed up, don't understand, don't care' are happy etc,etc, but if they did care, why wouldn't they vote?
As a quite elderly pensioner, the things you mention are not factors that make me decide how I vote,as for younger people, they care little for the things that will matter to them when they are old, but which they ought to.

Anyway on a funnier note.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48434842

Try spinning this one Campbell.

Maybe not a Lib Dem, but being a 'spin' doctor, more like 'Dem Fib's'.


[KS mod edit: Don't post several posts back to back. You can edit your posts for 24 hours.]

[skinster]

Anyway on a funnier note.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48434842

Try spinning this one Campbell.

[Beren]

We shall have to wait & see just what happens at the next general election for the parties if they fail to deliver the implementation of BREXIT.

I suspect that, yes the Tories will again lose out to the BREXIT Party, which will confound the so-called 'experts' on politics at Westminster & it's a distinct possibility that they could become a main party as a result oif Tory failures.

I actually meant that the Brexit Party will slump after BoJo becomes Tory leader and the ERG takes over the Conservative Party.

[Nonsense]

I actually meant that the Brexit Party will slump after BoJo becomes Tory leader and the ERG takes over the Conservative Party.

Well, I do not see it that way, of course some drift back to the Tories is possible,but, IMHO, only if CORBYN was an immediate threat to them.

I think that the change in direction of the public is now set to change our politics,would you think, that after how the issue has been handled by the Tories that their voters would return to the fold?

If so, I think that would be a bad mistake, however, the BREXIT Party would be quite happy to disband, if BREXIT were delivered, preferably without a 'deal' & with 'no deal'.

Had we left on 29 March 2019, there would have been no need for the BREXIT Party or the U.K engaging in the euro elections.

[Beren]

Poland, UK's Farage dash far-right hopes for EU parliament alliance

Joanna Plucinska, Robin Emmott

JUNE 5, 2019 / 1:41 PM / UPDATED 17 HOURS AGO

WARSAW/BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Far-right parties’ hopes of forging a powerful new eurosceptic bloc in the European Parliament suffered a double blow on Wednesday when Poland’s ruling nationalists and Britain’s Brexit Party both said they would not join such a grouping.

Italy’s far-right League was one of the biggest winners in last month’s EU elections and its leader, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, has sought to persuade Europe’s nationalist parties to set aside their differences and form a 10-party European Alliance for People and Nations in the new assembly.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, leader of Poland’s conservative ruling party Law and Justice (PiS), ruled out joining on account of the pro-Russian stance of Salvini, France’s National Rally, led by Marine Le Pen, and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, which won 29 of Britain’s 72 seats in the European Parliament, also said it would not join the putative new grouping, though it gave no reason. Britain is due to quit the EU on Oct. 31 but its lawmakers will join the European Parliament in July and stay until Brexit happens.

Expressing his scepticism about Salvini’s plans, Kaczynski told Polish private Radio Wnet: “When it comes to Mr Salvini, here we have a problem that he wants to create a new group with formations that we aren’t able to accept.”

“This is a group called National Rally belonging to Ms Le Pen. It’s also the Alternative for Germany,” he said. “This is something that we cannot accept under any circumstances.”

DISAGREEMENT OVER RUSSIA

Le Pen’s party, Germany’s AfD and Salvini’s League all have good relations with Russia, a stance that PiS, steeped in traditional Polish distrust of the Kremlin, does not share.

PiS, which espouses traditional Catholic values and resistance to what it sees as Russian expansionism in Ukraine and elsewhere, won 26 of 51 seats allotted to Poland in the European Parliament.

It is expected to remain in the European Conservatives and Reformists grouping in the assembly.

Salvini had hoped Europe’s eurosceptic parties’ shared desire to shape the bloc’s future by returning more powers to member states and imposing further curbs on immigration would trump any concerns about Russian interference.

Overall, far-right parties did less well than expected in the EU election, particularly in Germany and the Netherlands.

Last week, Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban also distanced his Fidesz party from Salvini’s eurosceptic group as he tries to repair strained ties with the EU’s mainstream center-right parties.

Orban’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas said he did not see “much chance for co-operation on a party level or in a joint parliamentary group”.

Orban, suspended from the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), has unexpectedly dropped contentious judicial reforms in an apparent gesture to appease mainstream EU allies.

Additional reporting by Anna Koper in Warsaw; Editing by Gareth Jones

It's hard to get such great people together.

[Ter]

Yes, they will not unite in a formal group.
It remains to be seen how they will vote on resolutions.
I hope they will still be a great pain in the ass of the Eurocrats.

[Beren]

I hope they will still be a great pain in the ass of the Eurocrats.

They definitely won't be a great pain in the ass in the EP and Salvini won't have much financial and economic room to be a pain in the ass even as PM as well, and as you can see Orbán has backtracked too and rather prefers remaining a pariah in the EPP.