It’s a move in the right direction. Bear in mind, however, that when the media calls people “right wing,” they mean moderates from 10 years ago.

LONDON — Populist, far-right parties could have a bigger hand in European policymaking over the next five years after initial results from the EU election on Sunday suggested the parliamentary landscape is being redrawn.

 

Gains for the nationalist Identity and Democracy (ID) party — and losses for the Greens/European Free Alliance — could leave centrist parties dependent on the right for key votes in the 720 seat European Parliament.

The Parliament has, in the past, been led by a strong majority of centrist parties, who typically vote together on issues to win a majority in the 720 seat chamber. Indeed, the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) is once again projected to win the most parliamentary seats and retain its dominance in the chamber.

 

But a centrist coalition led by the EPP might now depend on support from the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) to pass certain legislation, with research firm Eurasia Group describing the ECR in a pre-election note as potential “key players.”

 

[…]

 

Immigration will remain front and center of the policy agenda in the next Parliament, with right-wing parties expected to advocate for increased border security and a tougher stance on arrivals from outside the EU.

Nothing makes big spenders more angry than when people resist the shake down.

The pandemic has sent the EU into a tailspin, killing around 135,000 of its citizens and sending its economy into an estimated contraction of 8.3% this year.

The bloc’s executive has proposed a 750 billion-euro coronavirus fund, partly based on common borrowing, to be sent as loans and grants to the countries hit hardest by the pandemic. That comes on top of the seven-year 1 trillion-euro EU budget that leaders have been haggling over for months even before the pandemic hit.

All nations agree they need to band together but five richer countries in the north, led by the Netherlands, want strict controls on spending, while struggling southern nations like Spain and Italy say those conditions should be kept to a minimum.

At their dinner table Sunday night, the leaders could mull a proposal from the five wealthy northern nations that suggested a coronavirus recovery fund with 350 million euros of grants and the same amount again in loans. The five EU nations nicknamed “the frugals” — the Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Sweden and Denmark — had long opposed any grants at all.

Merkel and Macron walked out of heated talks before dawn Sunday with the frugals, bemoaning their lack of commitment to a common cause. “They ran off in a bad mood,” Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said.

Oh, sure... NOW they like borders… but seriously, Croatia is right: the cure is proving to be worse than the disease.

More than a dozen countries moved to tighten or even shut borders that are usually open and uncontrolled in response to the spreading crisis, hitting work commutes, stalling deliveries of goods including food and hampering some health workers.

“The transport sector is being severely affected by a wide range of national measures to contain the pandemic,” Croatia, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said in a statement after a video call of the 27-nation bloc’s transport ministers.

“We agreed it is important to keep freight moving, also across borders in order to make sure that essential goods and medical supplies reach our citizens …

“Responses to COVID-19 should not aggravate economic and social distress by cutting off much-needed transport links. It is imperative that we keep the economy going,” it said.

It’s going to be an interesting time in Europe.

For the first time the big centrist blocs no longer have a majority. The European Parliament elections boosted nationalists, the Greens and liberals.

It leaves the EU more fragmented, so finding consensus may be harder than in the past.

Before you go blaming Trump, notice that the reason for this goes back three years.

The European Parliament has voted to end visa-free travel for Americans within the EU.

It comes after the US failed to agree visa-free travel for citizens of five EU countries – Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Poland and Romania – as part of a reciprocity agreement. US citizens can normally travel to all countries in the bloc without a visa.

The vote urges the revocation of the scheme within two months, meaning Americans will have to apply for extra documents for 12 months after the European Commission implements a “delegated act” to bring the change into effect.

The Commission discovered three years ago that the US was not meeting its obligations under the reciprocity agreement but has not yet taken any legal action. The latest vote, prepared by the civil liberties committee and approved by a plenary session of parliament, gives the Commission two months to act before MEPs can consider action in the European Court of Justice.