Hollande’s Calls for “Crisis Meeting” on far-right win EU elections

President Francois Hollande holds urgent talks after National Front sweeps to victory in Paris.

13:06 26 May 2014

European election partial results saw the National Front win in France as voters across Europe turn to anti-EU parties. With eighty per cent of ballots counted, a party led by Marine Le Pen got 26per cent of the votes. This is the first time that the party has come first in a nationwide election in its 40-year history. The results, which place Hollande’s Socialist Party in third place with just under 14per cent, guaranteed the party of third of France’s 74 seats in the European Parliament. 

 

Following the result, President Hollande has been confirmed to hold urgent talks with ministers today in what French media calls crisis meeting. 

 

Speaking before the meeting, Prime Minister Manuel Valls said it was ‘a political earthquake in France’ and ‘a very grave moment for France and for Europe’, while ecology minister Segolene Royale said: ‘It’s a shock on a global scale.

 

The French result is the most notable success for anti-EU parties so far. In addition, there were signs that a neo-Nazi candidate for the NPD party maybe elected in Germany.