Monday, May 26, 2014

AP / Yahoo News: After anti-EU parties surge, what's ahead? (All empires, whether in Europe or North America, which try to both extend themselves across the rest of the world and import the rest of the world into themselves, contain within such utopian policies the seeds of their own destruction.)


After anti-EU parties surge, what's ahead?

France's far right National Front party leader Marine Le Pen attends a campaign rally before the European Parliament elections in Marseille

BRUSSELS (AP) — Europe's voters have spoken, and the result "is a shock, an earthquake," France's prime minister said.


Official but still partial returns from the 28-nation European Parliament elections show an unprecedented surge by Euroskeptics and outright anti-EU politicians. The likely upshot is that the trade bloc will find it more difficult to agree on a range of issues, including how much to liberalize its internal market in services, what to include in a proposed trade agreement with the United States and how to strike the balance between different energy sources.
By winning a larger share of seats in the European Parliament, more of Europe's outsiders also have a better platform to influence politics in their home countries. . . .