Across Europe, the sound of starting guns can be heard, as campaigning for the most consequential elections to the European parliament since 1979 gets under way. In Marseille at the weekend, Marine Le Pen and her Rassemblement party’s president, Jordan Bardella, pledged to roll back the European Union’s green deal and take back multiple powers from Brussels – including the right to impose draconian anti-migrant laws. Current polls suggest that this agenda will hoover up a record 30% of votes for Rassemblement, and inflict a humiliating defeat on President Emmanuel Macron.
Elsewhere, the overall numbers look equally grim from a progressive perspective. According to one analysis, the Eurosceptic, nationalist right is likely to top polls in nine EU states – including founding members Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as France – and come second or third in nine more, including Germany. In Rome, where Europe’s centre-left gathered to launch its own campaign on Saturday, the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, warned that “the very soul of Europe is at risk”.
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