EU elections: German parties make last pitches

The co-leader leader of the socialist Left Party, Martin Schirdewan, said voters in the European Parliament election will determine the direction of the EU at a decisive moment in its history.

In a speech at the party's campaign event in Potsdam, Schirdewan said voters would decide whether the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the parties of the so-called traffic light coalition would "continue to shape politics in Europe with their policy of austerity."

On the other hand, he said voters would decide "whether the extreme right, the fascists and new fascism would continue to grow stronger or not."

Schirdewan is also the leader of the EU-wide bloc known as The Left in the European Parliament.

Meanwhile, former Left Party leader Gregor Gysi warned of a potential "right-wing, nationalist and racist majority" in the European Parliament.

Far-right parties across the EU are expected to make significant gains in the parliamentary polls, which wrap up on Sunday.

Germany's center-right Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) concluded their European election campaign with a rally in the southern state of Bavaria on Friday.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who belongs to the CDU, is hoping to secure another term in office.

She joined party leader Friedrich Merz in Munich for a final campaign event.

"Today's Europe is a great gift," von der Leyen said. But she added that the bloc was "being challenged like never before by populists, extremists and demagogues."

She took aim at far-right parties such as Germany's AfD and France's National Rally, accusing them of trying to "weaken, destroy and ruin our Europe."

She vowed she would "never allow that to happen."

In his speech, Merz slammed Germany's so-called traffic light coalition — comprised of the Social Democrats, the Greens and the business-friendly Free Democrats — and said it had been a drag on the EU.

"Our European partners are disappointed by what they are hearing from Germany," he said.

Germany's Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, a top member of the Greens, has praised the European Union as a guarantor of peace and freedom while speaking at an campaign event in Cologne.

She said the EU was built upon the trust that emerged following Germany's defeat in World War II.

"This great good fortune that is the European Union did not fall from the sky for us Germans," Baerbock said, according to Germany's DPA news agency.

Meanwhile, Greens co-chair Ricarda Lang said that exit polls for the vote in the Netherlands showed that an alliance of green and social democratic parties had performed better than the far right.

This showed that it is possible to beat the right and that a populist wave was "not set in stone," she said.

The 2024 European Parliament elections are expected to see a major shift to the right in many countries, with populist far-right parties gaining votes and seats.

Preliminary polling has pointed to a strong performance by right-leaning parties in the 2024 European Parliament elections.

An exit poll from Thursday's vote in the Netherlands put Geert Wilders' far-right Freedom Party in second place behind the Green/Labour alliance. And it's a trend that could be repeated in other EU member states.

DW correspondent Jack Parrock said an important factor to consider would be "whether those far-right parties from across different countries — France, Italy, for instance, as well — can come together and sit in a group in the European Parliament, [as] a pan-European group of far-right parties."

Parrock said there are "many speculations about the different permutations and ways in which those parties could form those groups," and the question here would be: "How will they all fit and work together? And will they be able to come to enough of an agreement to have real legislative power, perhaps blocking power, in the next five years of the European Union's mandate?"

Polls in the Czech Republic opened at 2 p.m. local time (1200 UTC/GMT) on Friday, with voting to continue until 10 p.m.

On Saturday, voting will resume from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Opposition party ANO has been leading the polls. The party's founder, billionaire former Prime Minister Andrej Babis, has campaigned on a populist agenda that is critical of Brussels.

On Friday, Babis urged voters to "expel from the European Parliament the green fanatics and the pro-migration enthusiasts who have settled down there."

The ruling coalition of conservative Prime Minister Petr Fiala, Together, is polling close behind ANO.

On election day, Fiala reiterated his coalition's pledge to strengthen Europe and defend Ukraine.

Two other parties that are tipped to win seats in the European Parliament are the Pirate Party and STAN, a group of mayors and independent candidates. Both parties are also part of Fiala's government.

Ireland's premier Simon Harris cast his vote in Co Wicklow, south of Dublin, on Friday.

"And I brought my ID just so we don't have a Boris moment," Harris said in reference to an incident in May when former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was turned away at a polling station for not having ID.

He was due to spend the rest of the day canvassing across the country.

"Right, Cork!" he said has he walked through the parking lot.

Most Germans consider European Parliament elections "important," according to a survey by the German Economic Institute (IW).

Germany will elect its EU parliament representatives on Sunday along with several other EU member states.

This is the first time German citizens over the age of 16 will be able to vote in the election.

Some 62% of Germans participating in the survey said they considered the vote "important."

The voter turnout in Germany during the last European Parliament election in 2019 was 61.4%.

The vast majority of supporters of the environmentalist Greens (88%) considered the election this week to be important, while only 46% of supporters of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) shared the same opinion.

The IW survey polled 5,200 German citizens over the age of 18.

LGBTQ+ activists from Poland, Italy and Hungary warned against normalizing the far right in comments to DW.

Far-right parties are expected to surge in European Parliament elections being held this week.

Activists discussed with DW the consequences of the rise of the far right and cases of discrimination they have faced.

A van caught fire in front of an Alternative for Germany (AfD) party office in Berlin's Pankow district on Friday night. 

According to a police spokesperson, the flames then spread to one of the far-right party's pavilions in front of the office.

Firefighters extinguished the vehicle and the pavilion. There were no injuries. 

Police are investigating the blaze. State security is also investigating whether the act was politically motivated.  

AfD politician Ronald Gläser, who has his constituency office there, said the van caught fire around 3:00 a.m. (0100 UTC). 

The van, which was completely burned out, had been used for campaigning and was parked in front of the office. Gläser said the van contained campaign materials, including posters for the European Parliament elections.

Lars Klingbeil, a co-leader of Germany's center-left Social Democrats, has warned EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen not to rely on votes from the right-wing populist party of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to be re-elected as the leader of the 27-member bloc's executive.

"If Mrs von der Leyen ends up seeking her majority in parliament with the right-wing extremists, then we cannot elect her," said Klingbeil in a Reuters TV interview published on Friday.

When asked whether he also considered Meloni's party, Fratelli d'Italia (Brothers of Italy), to be right-wing extremist, Klingbeil said it was "a post-fascist party." 

Meloni must be accepted as the elected head of government of Italy, he said.

"But that does not mean that I like her politics, her past, and her political orientation," Klingbeil added.

When she was younger, Meloni was a party activist for the youth wing of the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement.

Aged 19, she was filmed saying she believed wartime dictator Benito Mussolini was a "good politician."

"Everything he did, he did for Italy," she said at the time.

The Netherlands kicked off the EU parliamentary vote on Thursday, with exit polls indicating a strong result for the far-right Freedom Party (PVV).

Forecasters have predicted a surge in support for far-right parties across the bloc.

Most of the EU's 27 members, including Germany, will vote on Sunday.

Around 370 million people are eligible to vote in the election this week.

Italy, Latvia, Malta and Slovakia will start voting on Saturday, with Italy's vote to stretch over to Sunday.

Voters in Ireland and the Czech Republic go to the polls on Friday in the second day of elections for the European Parliament.

Irish voters will choose their 14 of the 705 members of the parliament while Czech voters determine their 21 members of the European Parliament. More than 8 million Czechs are eligible to cast ballots, while in Ireland, 3.6 million are eligible.

Ireland's left-wing opposition party Sinn Fein wants to use the Friday vote to shore up support ahead of a national election expected to be held late this year. 

"Vote Sinn Feinn on Friday as the first step towards a change of government," Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

"It's time for new people with new solutions and new ideas at local government and European level. Change starts here," she said.

The Czech Republic's ANO centrist opposition party is polling at 23.1%, narrowly ahead of government parties, according to the Czech polling agency STEM.

STEM analyst Martin Kratochvil told the German DPA news agency that the forecast reflected typically low Czech turnout in EU elections.

sdi/sms (AP, AFP, DPA, Reuters)