International
How will the rise of the far right influence the day-to-day life of the EU and the European Parliament?
The European elections to renew the European Parliament have certified an increase in seats throughout the EU of ultra-conservative and far-right parties, which are placed as the first force in France, Italy, the Netherlands or Austria.
As a result, they will have more weight in decisions such as the orientation of the EU budget between 2027 and 2034, the position of the European Parliament in the defense of the rule of law and European values, the future expansion to the east or the progress in implementing climate objectives.
The coming weeks and months will determine what their real capacity for influence is, if they manage to coordinate their positions in the hemicycle and how the day-to-day legislative work in the European Union will change.
In practice, the European elections redesign only one of the three community institutions involved in the legislative process. The European Council (the Heads of State and Government) and the Council of the EU (the ministers of the Member States) remain stable, since they only renew their members when there are elections at the national level.
This means, for example, that Emmanuel Macron and his ministers will continue to represent France in the Council even though Marine Le Pen has won the European elections in France.
A Parliament left to the right may have some influence to unbalance the confirmation vote of the president of the European Commission or the approval of his team of commissioners, but these will also be by definition “multicolored” politically because they are sent by their governments.
Most decisions in the European Parliament require the favorable vote of half plus one of the MEPs who cast their vote, so the combined 131 seats of the Conservatives and Reformists and Identity and Democracy (waiting for the like-minded non-attached) are not enough in a European Parliament with 720 seats.
To be noticed, they will need, as has been the case so far, almost all of the European People’s Party, which in this legislature inherits from the liberals the role of the “majority facilitator”: the block supported by the popular in each individual vote, whether the center-left or the ultra-right, will take the cat to the water.
Due to the nature of these groups, which often do not have enough cohesion or internal structure and respond to national interests rather than their European Parliamentary group, it tends to be difficult to find a stable majority to move legislation forward, but they can push for concrete amendments.
“It will take longer than other times to draw conclusions from these 27 elections in parallel and translate them into a clear parliamentary majority, which in my opinion will be flexible instead of permanent and will change depending on the proposals presented by the new Commission to Parliament,” said the professor of European Union Law at HEC Paris Alberto Alemanno.
The same analyst pointed to the rise of unregistered parties or newcomers without a political family that “could play a role in recomposing the existing groups and shaping the new political cycle.”
And it is that the “cake” of the hemicycle is not yet completely distributed after this Sunday’s elections, with almost a hundred MEPs who do not belong to any group or who arrive new to the European Parliament and have not yet been associated with one of the existing ones.
From today, they can look for fit in existing groups or, if new groups are formed, join them. It will be the case of the Alternative for Germany, which will provide 15 seats, or Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz, with 10.
With them and other related groups, arithmetically it will be possible to unite the votes of popular, ultra-conservative, extreme right-right and non-registered people who sympathize with their ideas to, occasionally, carry out narrow majorities such as the one that was about to destroy the Law of the Restoration of Nature in the legislature that now ends.
The need for total cohesion in the hemicycle disappears in other decisions within the European Parliament. They are taken by weighted vote in parliamentary forums such as the Conference of Presidents (which brings together the president of the institution and heads of political groups) or among the coordinators of the political groups in the different parliamentary committees.
In these spaces, the representative of each political group arrogates the voice and vote of all its MEPs, with no room for dissension, and – if it reaches 361 seats – EPP, ECR and ID could decant the balance in decisions on the agenda or legislative work, among others.
International
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump criticized what he described as unfair fees imposed on American ships passing through the Panama Canal and threatened to demand that Washington take back control of the strategic waterway.
“Our Navy and commerce have been threatened in a very unjust and reckless way. The rates that Panama charges are ridiculous,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
The president-elect also denounced the growing influence of China in the canal, a situation he called concerning as U.S. businesses depend on the waterway to transport goods between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
“This complete scam against our country will end immediately,” he stated.
The Panama Canal, completed by the United States in 1914, was handed over to Panama under the 1977 treaty signed by Democratic President Jimmy Carter. Panama took full control of the commercial passage in 1999.
“It was exclusively for Panama to manage, not China or anyone else,” Trump said. “We would never allow it to fall into the wrong hands!”
“If Panama cannot guarantee a ‘safe, efficient, and reliable’ operation of the canal, we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us in its entirety, without a doubt,” the Republican added.
Panamanian authorities did not immediately respond to Trump’s statements. While he will assume office on January 20, Trump has been exerting his political influence in the final days of President Joe Biden’s administration.
Five percent of global maritime trade passes through the Panama Canal, which allows vessels traveling from Asia to the U.S. East Coast to avoid the long and dangerous route around the southern tip of South America.
The countries that use the Panama Canal the most are the United States, China, Japan, and South Korea.
In October, the Panama Canal Authority reported earnings of nearly $5 billion in the last fiscal year.
International
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised more “destruction” in Ukraine on Sunday, in response to a drone strike that hit a residential building in the city of Kazan, located in central Russia, on Saturday.
Russia accused Ukraine of launching a “massive” drone attack, which struck a luxury apartment block in Kazan, about 1,000 kilometers from the border.
Videos shared on Russian social media show drones hitting a high-rise glass building. No casualties have been reported as a result of the attack.
In his statements, Putin addressed the local leader of Tatarstan, the region where Kazan is located, during a virtual ceremony marking the opening of a road.
The attack in Kazan is the latest in a series of increasingly frequent bombings in this nearly three-year-old conflict. Ukraine has not commented on the attack.
Putin had previously threatened to strike the center of Kyiv with a hypersonic ballistic missile in response to Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory.
The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the recent Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities were retaliation for Ukraine’s use of Western-supplied missiles to target Russian territory.
International
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
At least nine people were killed on Sunday after a small aircraft crashed in a commercial area of the tourist city of Gramado, in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, authorities confirmed.
“There are nine confirmed deaths according to Civil Defense services, and there are no survivors from the plane,” said Cléber dos Santos Lima, director of the Interior Police Department of the Civil Police of the state, in a statement to AFP.
Authorities have not yet confirmed the exact number of passengers and crew aboard the aircraft, a turbo-prop Piper Cheyenne 400. However, Civil Defense had previously stated that “preliminarily, the plane was carrying ten people.”
The plane crashed on Sunday morning “into the chimney of a building, then onto the second floor of a house, and finally fell onto a furniture store,” according to a statement from the Rio Grande do Sul Public Security Secretariat.
Trump criticizes Panama Canal fees and demands U.S. control over strategic waterway
Putin vows retaliation following drone attack on luxury building in Kazan
Small plane crashes in Gramado, Brazil, killing nine people
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