European Elections

The Minister of Labor Yolanda Diaz and former MEP Manu Pineda attend the EU campaign of the Sumar coalition, May 23, 2024, Madrid.
IMAGO/ZUMA Press Wire
The EU elections in Spain saw a narrow victory for the centrist People's Party, which beat the Socialist Party by two seats. The clear victory goes to the political tradition of the bipartitism, with the two major parties winning a total of 64.37% of the vote. The far-right party VOX received 9.62%, comparable to its Portuguese counterpart CHEGA, which achieved 9.79%, but a far cry from the 15.60% of the Alternative for Germany, the 28.59% of the Fratelli d'Italia and the 31.36% of the Rassemblement National.
read more "Yolanda Díaz steps down from leadership of Sumar and Izquierda Unida fails to enter the European Parliament"
Communist Party members on the campaign trail in Vienna, Austria, May 2024.
Flicker / KPÖ
If you ask a random passer-by on the streets of Salzburg what sets the Communist Party of Austria (KPÖ) apart, they will probably have quite a bit to say — regardless of whether they vote for the KPÖ or not.
read more "Setting Ourselves Apart"
Clémence Guetté during a major LFI meeting before the first round of the French presidential election, in Paris, March 2022.
IMAGO/ABACAPRESS
****Version française ci-dessous****With only a few days to go before election day, the foundation’s Nessim Achouche spoke to Clémence Guetté, a member of the French National Assembly for La France insoumise (LFI) and co-president of the movement’s think tank, Institut La Boétie, about LFI’s electoral strategy and how Institut La Boétie helps to inform that strategy with research and serious debate.
read more "The Struggle for Hegemony Is a Struggle for Ideas"
Li Andersson during a presidential candidates’ debate in Helsinki, 27 January 2024.
IMAGO/Lehtikuva
As the European Parliament elections this June draw nearer, the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation is conducting a series of interviews with left-wing parties and candidates from across the EU on the election campaign, their political programmes, and the challenges facing left-wing forces domestically and at a European level. The foundation’s Duroyan Fertl spoke to Li Andersson, leader of the Finnish Left Alliance, Vasemmistoliitto, about her party’s priorities in this super election year.
read more "Opposing Finland’s Thatcherist Turn"
European Election Debate With The French Candidates
Debatte zur Europawahl mit den französischen Kandidat*innen am 10. April 2024 in Brüssel.
IMAGO/ABACAPRESS
How French voters turn out in the European elections next month could have major domestic implications Do the French care about the European elections? Thus far, the European electoral campaign has failed to stir up much popular enthusiasm. Of course, it is only just getting underway, and headlines have focused primarily on the new government and farmers’ protests in recent months. The first televised debate, held on 14 March by TV channel Public Sénat, was a testament to this lack of interest: the public had to wait until less than three months before the elections ...
read more "A Test Run for 2027?"
European Election 2024: Assembly of the Spanish left-wing political party Sumar Estrella Galan, Sumar candidate for the European elections, seen speaking during
IMAGO/Alberto Gardin
In the Spanish State, all indicators seem to point in the same direction: we are coming to the end of a cycle, in which what has been called the “Space for Change” is in retreat and even disappearing in many regions. Significant internal disagreements within the Left, right-wing and far-right parties committed to propagating fake news and stoking tensions, and a social democracy that has been neglected for years have all come together to create a society divided by media and discursive polarization, and the disaffection of the majority of citizens.
read more "Low Expectations for Spain’s Divided Left"
Martin Schirdewan, co-chair of The Left in the European Parliament.
Martin Schirdewan, co-chair of The Left in the European Parliament.The Left via Flicker

“It’s about the Sustainability of This Continent”

Martin Schirdewan, Albert Scharenberg
A conversation with Martin Schirdewan, co-chair of The Left in the European Parliament In a little under a year, from 6 to 9 June 2024, elections to the European Parliament will be held across all 27 European Union member-states. A lot is up for grabs. The last five years have been turbulent ones in the EU, with the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing economic recession — coming only a decade after the last major economic crisis — compelling the European Commission to establish the Recovery and Resilience Facility, a 750-billion-euro ...
read more "“It’s about the Sustainability of This Continent”"
Far from birds and flocks and village girls, What did I drink, as I knelt in the heather, A tender hazel copse around me, In the warm green mist of the afternoon? ~Arthur Rimbaud, “A Season in Hell” Two political parties – Europe Ecology-The Greens (EELV) and President Macron's The Republic on the Move (La Republique En Marche, or LREM) – are now vying for the centrist vote in France. But while LREM is veering to the right, the French Greens are being 'blocked' from following suit by a militant base that's pulling them to ...
read more "The Greens and/or Macron: the fight to hold the centre"