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THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
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making has shallow roots or may even be
reversible.
– The existence of governments supported by
populist or Eurosceptic parties –which has
little impact when decisions are taken on a
shared basis (and even less so when imple-
mented through the normal legislative pro-
cedure) or when they are taken by the most
federal institutions (the European Commis-
sion and the European Parliament)– be-
comes a major obstacle when agreements
have to be reached at the intergovernmental
level.
During 2015 there were a number of chang-
es in the political situation in member states
that have affected and will continue to affect
the EU, particularly given the limited tools avail-
able to the EU to address this situation in the
short term.
The mainstream parties are still in the
majority, but not to the same degree
as before
If we look at the big picture, we find that the
mainstream parties emerged from 2015 in a
relatively strong position in terms of their repre-
sentation in the governments of EU member
states.
Formations belonging to the European Peo-
ple’ Party (EPP), the Party of European Socialists
(PES) or the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats
for Europe (ALDE) participate in 25 of the EU’s
28 national governments. The three exceptions
are Greece, Poland and the United Kingdom. In
the latter, however, it is worth noting that the
Conservative Party left the EPP for tactical rea-
sons linked to its Eurosceptic position, while
maintaining a clear ideological and political af-
finity to its former partners.
At the same time, there are two countries
where members of the EPP are in government
with parties of the radical right: in Denmark,
where the far-right Danish People’s Party is the
second-largest party, with 21 % of the vote;
and in Finland, whose Foreign Minister belongs
to the Europhobic, populist right. And, of
course, there is Hungary, which is governed by
FIDESZ, a member of the EPP but with far more
extreme policies than its sister parties.
It is also important to note that three of the
eight general elections held in 2015 produced
very significant changes (Denmark, Greece and
Poland) while in the remaining five (Croatia, Es-
tonia, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom)
traditional parties continued to be in the majority.
If we look beyond governments to consider
the percentage of the vote won by conserva-
tives, socialists and liberals, these remain very
considerable, with the exception of Greece and
Poland, where the social democratic left has
been all but obliterated.
The conclusions, therefore, are clear:
– Europe’s historic political parties continue to
dominate the continent’s political scene.
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The much-trumpeted advance by new po-
litical forces on the left and the right has
failed to materialise, with a few exceptions.
– The political majority that governs the EU is
thus the same majority that governs in most
of its member states (as we will see below).
– Although its lead is noticeably smaller than it
was five years ago, the right continues to be
the largest political force in member states,
with the socialists in second place, well
ahead of their rivals.
As a result, the countries of the EU have not
experienced a radical change in make-up, al-
though new political forces have appeared at the
margins of the traditional parties. However, the
radical proposals of old and new governments