Voters across Europe used the European elections to send a message of protest to national governments, many of which suffered heavy losses in a poll with the lowest turnout in the history of the European Parliament, The Irish Times (Ireland, 06/14) reports. Officials suggested Sunday night that the turnout was just above 44 percent, down from 49 percent in the 1999 election, with generally lower participation in the 10 new member-states.

Germany’s governing Social Democrats saw their vote collapse to just over 21 percent and France’s ruling conservatives were trounced by the opposition Socialists. Britain’s Labour government was also expected to fare badly, losing votes to, among others, the Euroskeptic United Kingdom Independence Party.

The recently elected governments in Spain and Greece were among the few to escape punishment from voters. The center-right was expected to remain the largest group in the new parliament with between 247 and 277 seats, although the second largest group, the Socialists, were expected to make gains, securing between 189 and 209 seats. Liberals were expected to return between 54 and 70 MEPs and Greens between 39 and 49.

Euroskeptics performed well in Britain, Sweden and the Czech Republic but saw their vote fall sharply in Denmark, one of their traditional strongholds. In Poland, the populist Self Defense party appeared to be faring less well than expected. In Austria, the far-right Freedom Party saw its vote shrivel to just 6 percent but in France, the National Front doubled its vote and in Belgium, the Vlaams Blok was expected to send three MEPs to Strasbourg. In the Netherlands, the party of Paul van Buitenen, a former Commission official who exposed corruption in Brussels, won two seats. In Austria, Hans-Peter Martin, an MEP who exposed expenses scams in the European Parliament, won more than 14 percent of the vote.

The BBC World Service reports that few had predicted that turnout would be lowest not in the UK and the Netherlands, as five years ago, but in the eight central and eastern European countries that joined the EU on May 1. According to the BBC website (06/14), this is quite an unusual trend, since after previous enlargements, new members showed greater enthusiasm about European polls than voters in the old member states. „Regrettably, Europe is too absent from European elections in east and west,“ outgoing European Parliament President Pat Cox said. However, Cox put a brave face on the results, pointing out that more than 150 million people had taken part in Europe’s biggest-ever elections. He said eastern and central European countries had successfully mobilized large majorities to vote in favor of EU membership in referendums last year.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal (06/14) writes that members of the US-led „coalition of the willing“ in Iraq and proponents of a strong European Union took some of the worst hits, but anti-incumbent sentiment was widespread. Issues that crossed borders included moribund national economies as well the Iraq war and fear of handing more power to the expanding EU, as voters took the opportunity to rock top national parties. Efforts to increase the turnout this year included scheduling local voting in some countries, notably Britain, for the same day, apparently to no avail. Paradoxically, interest in the Parliament has waned as its powers have increased. The assembly has the power to approve nearly 80 percent of EU legislation, ranging from health and safety regulations to environment rules. It also rejects or approves the EU’s EUR95 billion budget and can fire the European Commission, the EU’s executive body. However, it has no control over the foreign, tax and immigration issues that tend to capture voters‘ interest.

Also reporting on the EU polls, the Financial Times (06/14) notes that the election results come days before Europe’s leaders meet in Brussels to try to agree the next phase of EU integration by endorsing the draft constitutional treaty. The European leaders‘ ability to sell the constitution to hostile voters, many of whom will be asked to ratify the treaty in national referendums, was called into doubt by the results. The heavy defeats for governing parties make it likely that the parliament, which shares EU legislative power with member states, could find itself at loggerheads with national governments, the daily writes.

Libération (France, 06/14) adds that the new European Parliament will have to face major challenges in the upcoming months. First, the negotiations designed to create European-wide coalitions between parties with the same political slant will have to be done by July 19. The new Assembly will have to give its opinion on Romano Prodi’s successor as the Head of the European Commission. The newly elected Member of the European Parliament (MEPs) will also face the Turkey issue next Fall, when the Commission gives its verdict on the country’s candidacy. Even if the Parliament does not have any influence on the outcome of the candidacy process, it will definitely speak its mind by the time the heads of state and governments make their decision public.