Sunday’s election round defines, in Europe, the solidity of the current trend, which sees the conservative forces rewarded. Finland, the most anticipated event considering both the border with Russia and the pop impact of outgoing Prime Minister (Social Democrat) Sanna Marin, saw the emergence of two centre-right forces. Most of the consensus (20.6%), therefore with the task of building a majority, is obtained by the National Coalition, a party belonging to the EPP and led by Petteri Orpo. In second place are Rikka Purra’s True Finns (adherents of the European family of Identity and Democracy) who meet at 20.1. Immediately behind Marin’s party, with 19.9. There are three parties separated by a glue, but in addition, the consensual attraction of the center-right bloc is clear. Orpo now bears the brunt of a negotiation that cannot fail to cross the borders of the zone, given that the National Coalition and the True Finns are close, but do not reach, the majority to be able to govern. We are, therefore, facing a very delicate passage (in which the programmatic turn sees immigration as a fundamental theme) at a moment of historical turning point for the country: today Finland will become the 31st member state of NATO.
The other electoral nomination concerned Bulgaria. Also in this case, the centre-right led by Boyko Borisov won, surpassing his reformist opponent by just one percentage point, so in this case the situation of instability that has marked the country’s dynamics in recent years seems to persist. However, these electoral appointments mark a trend that attributes greater potential to the path of the European centre-right which, discounting the positioning of the various forces that could be part of it, already today foreshadows a break in the Popolari-Socialist bet on the EU Commission. A journey whose disruptive start was undoubtedly marked by the victory of the Italian centre-right last September. Then, following 2022, there was the Swedish step. Here, in fact, the Swedish Democrats, who belong to the European conservative and reformist family, made their mark in the electoral news by surpassing the 20% mark, thus winning 73 seats in the Riksdag. Hence the choice of external support for the government of Ulf Kristersson which allowed the birth of a government with the Moderate Party and the Christian Democrats, both from the EPP, and the Liberals, who on the contrary are in Alde.
Now the focus goes to the next electoral appointments, in Poland and Spain. In the Mediterranean country, which will go to general elections at the end of the year, the confrontation is marked by a center-right potentially capable of interrupting the experience of a socialist government. But the two parties that make it up, Popolari (PPe) and Vox (conservatives and reformists) have recently widened the furrow of their differences, both at national level (the Populares abstained from a motion of censure on Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez , presented by Vox), and at the regional level (some frictions occurred in the Madrid community over a tax law). Alliances are not made with the abacus, but a synthesis in Madrid would be another step forward.
Source: IL Tempo
Emma Fitzgerald is an accomplished political journalist and author at The Nation View. With a background in political science and international relations, she has a deep understanding of the political landscape and the forces that shape it.
