This means the results of the European elections for the Netherlands in Brussels

“In the Netherlands we always look at who will be the biggest,” says de Vries. “What is even more interesting is the performance of the pro-European parties compared to the Eurosceptic parties. Then we see that the pro-European parties such as PvdA-GroenLinks, VVD and D66 received a total of about two-thirds of the total votes and the Eurosceptics a third.” According to De Vries, this is mainly due to turnout. “Pro-European parties have been able to mobilize their voters much more.” It is also striking that voters from coalition parties in particular stayed away from the election.

Presence

All parties enter the European Parliament within so-called political families. This makes it possible to know the influence of different parties. Since many European countries only vote on Sunday, it is difficult to say what this will look like. It is clear after the poll that Dutch influence is completely divided, according to De Vries. “On the one hand, you have a very pro-European story, but on the other hand, you also have skeptical signals. But looking at the overall result, the Dutch MEPs seem more in favor of European cooperation than holding it back.” on him.” .”

Other countries and political scholars watched the elections in the Netherlands with great interest, because the Netherlands was the first country to vote. “What we mainly look at is the turnout,” says de Vries. “In the Netherlands, it is higher than it was five years ago, which is completely unexpected. I am curious about what it will be like in other countries.” It also refers to ballot boxes. The Party for Freedom won widely, but the party may have fared slightly better in the polls. “It will be interesting how other far-right parties in Europe do.” In general, pro-European parties benefit more from lower voter turnout.

Ursula von der Leyen

“Another striking point is the effect of CDA,” says de Vries. “The CDA, a centrist party after all, has done better than expected. I expect the European People's Party, to which the CDA belongs, will be satisfied with the results. Ursula von der Leyen also comes from that European family and is likely to be like that”. “Be satisfied that they won't lose much.”

It remains to be seen whether sentiment is roughly the same across Europe as in the Netherlands. Most countries vote on Sunday and full results will not be available until Monday morning at the earliest. It is therefore still unclear which European family will be the largest.