EU elections 2024 live: Macron says France needs ‘clear majority’ after calling snap elections following far-right surge | European elections

France’s snap election explained

Jon Henley

In a shock move, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, has called a snap parliamentary election that will be held within the next 30 days. What happened exactly, why – and what might come next?

What were Macron’s reasons?

The president said the decision was a “serious and heavy” one, but that he could not resign himself to the fact that “far-right parties … are progressing everywhere on the continent”.

After his centrist coalition lost its parliamentary majority in the 2022 elections, Macron was resorted to pushing through legislation without a vote in the assembly, using a controversial constitutional tool known as 49/3.

Sunday’s dramatic move, however, is a huge gamble: Macron’s party could suffer yet more losses. However, most analysts predict that while the far-right party may emerge with more MPs, it will probably not win enough seats to give it a majority either – meaning the next parliament may be even messier and more ineffective than the current one.

It could be that he is looking at a neutralising “cohabitation effect”. If Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally (RN) were to score well and, for example, the party’s president, Jordan Bardella, were offered the job of prime minister, two and a half years in government may be just enough time to render the far right unpopular too.

How have National Rally responded?

Bardella was the first to urge Macron to call snap legislative elections, telling supporters after the projections were announced that French voters had “expressed a desire for change”. The country has “given its verdict and there is no appeal”, he said.

Le Pen, the party’s figurehead and presidential candidate, said she could “only welcome this decision, which is in keeping with the logic of the institutions of the Fifth Republic”. She said the party was “ready to take power if the French people have confidence in us in these forthcoming legislative elections”.

Preliminary results show that hard-right parties finished first in France, Italy and Austria and came second in Germany and the Netherlands, although centrist mainstream parties will probably keep an overall majority in the European parliament.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, whose centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) scored top place in the EU parliament, said she would “build a bastion against the extremes from the left and from the right.”

There remains a majority in the centre for a strong Europe and that is crucial for stability. In other words the centre is holding.”

Socialists won the largest share of the vote in Malta, Romania and Sweden, helping the centre-left to retain its position as the parliament’s second-largest group, albeit far weaker than the 1990s, when it led many more governments.

The EPP, Socialists and Democrats, the centrist Renew group and the Greens were on course for 462 of the 720 seats, a 64.1% share, compared with their 69.2% share in the slightly smaller outgoing parliament, according to a projection based on final and provisional results late on Sunday.

Far-right gains in the EU elections have triggered a snap parliamentary election in France, with President Emmanuel Macron’s surprise decision to call the vote labelled by many as a high-risk move.

Despite centrist parties retaining an overall majority in the European parliament, across the bloc extreme right parties notched a string of high-profile wins, with a resounding win by the far-right National Rally (RN) party of Marine Le Pen prompting Macron to make the gamble.

The RN won 31.5% of the vote to 15% for Macron’s centrist Renaissance party, according to exit polls.

“We are ready to take power if the French show trust in us,” Le Pen told her party on Sunday evening.

“I cannot act as if nothing had happened,” Macron told the country in a national address.

The French people, he said, must now make “the best choice for itself and future generations”.

Welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the European parliamentary elections.

It’s 6am in Brussels, where EU lawmaking is set to get more complicated, after parties on the populist right made huge gains in many countries, while in others, support for the centre-right establishment held and leftwing parties made surprising gains.

Perhaps the most surprising response to the surge in support for populist parties was from France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, who called snap legislative elections after a crushing defeat by Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally.

The RN won about 32% of French votes, more than double the 15% or so scored by Macron’s allies, according to projections, with the Socialists just behind on about 14%.

“I cannot act as if nothing had happened,” Macron said. “I have decided to give you the choice.”

We’ll have much more reaction to results from across the continent, but first here’s a summary of the major results:

• Despite gains for the far and radical right on Sunday, the mainstream, pro-European parties were on course to hold their majority in the EU parliament. The centre-right European People’s party (EPP), which also topped the polls in Spain and Poland, won the largest number of seats, boosting the chances of its lead candidate, Ursula von der Leyen, to secure a second term as European Commission president. “There remains a majority in the centre for a strong Europe and that is crucial for stability. In other words the centre is holding,” von der Leyen said. The extremes on the left and right had gained support, she said, which put “great responsibility on the parties in the centre”.

• Socialists won the largest share of the vote in Malta, Romania and Sweden, helping the centre-left to retain its position as the parliament’s second-largest group, albeit far weaker than the 1990s, when it led many more governments. The EPP, Socialists and Democrats, the centrist Renew group and the Greens were on course for 462 of the 720 seats, a 64.1% share, compared with their 69.2% share in the slightly smaller outgoing parliament, according to a projection based on final and provisional results late on Sunday.

• Olaf Scholz’s coalition had a bad night in Germany, as the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) made significant gains. The Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union, now in opposition, took a decisive lead, with 30.9% of the vote, according to provisional results. The AfD jumped to 14.2% from 11% in 2019, despite a slew of scandals, including its lead candidate saying that the SS, the Nazi’s main paramilitary force, were “not all criminals”.

• Italian prime minister Georgia Meloni’s thanked voters after exit polls showed her hard-right Brothers of Italy party winning 26%-30% of the vote, comfortably ahead of its centre-left rivals on 21%-25%.

• The Nordic countries bucked the overall trend in the EU elections, with left-wing and green parties making gains, official results showed, while far-right parties saw their support diminish. Denmark saw a surprise surge in support for the Socialist People’s Party (SF), which became the largest party with 17.4% of the vote, up 4.2 percentage points compared to the 2019 result – with all votes counted.

• Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer has said he heard voters’ “message” and will seek to address their concerns ahead of national elections later this year, including cracking down on “illegal migration”. Nehammer was speaking after close-to-final results showed that far-right party FPOe had come first in EU elections with 25.7% of the vote, just ahead of his ruling conservative People’s Party (OeVP) which stood at 24.7%.

• In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ far-right party was second behind a Left-Green alliance, but appeared to have fallen short of expectations. The Freedom party took 17% of the vote, while the Left-Green alliance, led by the former EU Commission vice-president Frans Timmermans, was on 21.1%.

• The Fidesz party of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán received the most votes, but its performance was its worse in years. With 84.36% of votes counted, the ruling party was at 44.17%, while Péter Magyar’s opposition Tisza party was at 30.09%. Magyar called the election the Fidesz government’s Waterloo and “the beginning of the end”.