Defeat for the ruling parties in Sunday’s EU Parliamentary elections has led to a significant shift to the right, with right-wing and protest parties experiencing considerable gains. This trend has been particularly evident in countries like France and Germany, several Danish newspapers wrote in their editorials on Tuesday. Berlingske highlights that parties in the governments of EU countries have been “punished by the voters.” If the right-wing parties manage to unite, they could form a group with the goal of “getting better control of immigration to Europe” and being “critical of the green transition.” The newspaper urges the EU leadership, including EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, to take the election results seriously and “learn to listen to the populists.”
Jyllands-Posten calls the shift to the right a “sign of health” and emphasizes that more voters are showing dissatisfaction with “expensive bureaucracy” and “unregulated refugee flows” by voting for parties on “the critical right.” The newspaper urges Ursula von der Leyen to collaborate with “the newly elected critics” and mentions clear political signals from voters in countries like France, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, and Italy. Politiken points out that Danish voters in Sunday’s EU Parliamentary elections “restrained” themselves and thus deviated from the general right turn in Europe. According to the newspaper, it is a “strong signal to Europe” that Denmark has chosen candidates who take the green transition seriously. Politiken also notes that the center in the EU seems to maintain its majority, despite major defeats for leaders like German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron. The latter has even called for parliamentary elections as a result of the outcome.
The overall conclusion across the Danish newspapers is that the EU leadership should take the voters’ signals seriously and adjust their policies accordingly to be able to address the growing right-wing and protest movements.