Lefties Defeated in EU Election
The European Union's most left-leaning governments put on a brave face Monday after the 15-nation bloc's voters dealt a humiliating defeat to Socialist parties in elections for the European Parliament.
As the center-right European People's Party celebrated overturning socialist dominance for the first time since the assembly became directly-elected in 1979, the main losers, Britain's Labor Government and Germany's Red-Green coalition, vowed to plow ahead with their policies.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose ruling Labor Party received one of the biggest beatings in the poll, vowed to stay pro-European despite the results which he admitted were Â"very disappointing.Â"
Blair said he would keep arguing broadly in favor of joining the euro despite suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Conservatives, who won 36 seats against Labour's 29 on an anti-euro ticket.
Â"For this country to pull away from Europe when millions of jobs are dependent on Europe would be a very big mistake,Â" he told a news conference in London.
In Belgium, where national elections largely overshadowed the European poll Sunday, Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, the EU's longest serving leader, resigned and said he was considering quitting politics after voters crushed his center-left government.
Parliamentary projections, based on near-final results, confirmed the EPP was well ahead in the poll with 224 seats, sharply up from the 201 it held last time, while the Socialists plummeted to 180 from 214.
Those elected included former Eurovision Song Contest winner Dana, FinlandÂ's Ari Vatanen, EU humanitarian aid commissioner Emma Bonino and former Portuguese President Mario Soares.
In Germany, where the European vote had been seen as a first nationwide test of the Red-Green coalition, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder admitted defeat and vowed to do a better job on the economy. The opposition Christian Democrats gained 10 points in the elections to claim an absolute majority of the country's seats in the Parliament.
In Italy, the center-left government also suffered losses but heaved a sigh of relief as it avoided potential embarrassment by scooping more than 40 percent of the vote. Prime Minister Massimo D'Alema said the result would not make him shake-up his center-left cabinet.
Bucking the wider trend, French voters comforted Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin and also gave his Green coalition partners a major boost in elections to the European Parliament. They came out clearly on top at home with 21.9 per cent of the vote.
It was sweet revenge for Jospin, left in the cold last week as Blair and Schroeder ignored him in producing a joint manifesto to promote a new modern left.
The European Parliament's authority has increased gradually over the years as it gained a say over more areas of legislation.
It had hoped its coup in toppling the European Commission from power iMarch in a fraud scandal would win the hearts and minds of ordinary people. But voters largely stayed at home, with turnout around 50 percent.
Luxembourg's Socialists also seemed likely to lose their place in the country's coalition government.
Analysts said the first person to feel the change in make-up in the Parliament could be Romano Prodi, the former Italian Premier designated to lead the European Commission.
The Parliament has powers to veto the new Commission and the analysts said the EPP might put pressure on Prodi to form a more center-right dominated EU executive.
Reuters