2024 was, if nothing else, a year of dense developments for the European political scene. In addition to the renewal of her term in the presidency of the European Commission, the internal political reshuffles in barometer countries for the Old Continent, such as Germany and France, created new data and caused uncertainty for the next day.
Looking back at the year that is leaving, it would be useful to see what were the events that marked the European political scene and how it has been shaped now, compared to a year ago.
The moments of the year:
European elections
From June 6 to 9, European citizens went to the polls to elect their representatives to the directly elected EU body, the . The results put the centre-right European People’s Party back in first place with 188 seats, with the Social Democrats coming in second, winning 136 seats, an unsurprising result. However, the element that caused not only surprise but also concern was the fact that the extreme right emerged significantly strengthened from the polls.
More specifically, the political group Patriots for Europe, which includes, among others, the French National Rally of Marine Le Pen and the Hungarian Fidesz, of Viktor Orbán, is now the third political force with 84 seats. At the same time, the fourth political force is the European Conservatives and Reformists, which includes the Adelfia party of Italy, of the country’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.
The liberal-centrist Renew Europe managed to gather smaller forces this time, in which French President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance participates and is now the fifth most powerful political force, with 77 seats in the European Parliament. On the same wavelength and the greens, now sixth in power, with 53 seats. This correlation contrasts with what happened in the previous European elections, in 2019, when Renew was in third place and the Greens in fourth.
The formation of the new European Commission
Immediately after the European elections, the procedures for the selection of the new European Commission for the period 2024-2029 began, with the first decision being the renewal of Ursula von der Leyen’s term. Indeed, on July 18, in a vote in which 707 of the 720 MEPs participated, , gathering 401 votes.
The process of forming the new Commission followed, which, after being voted by the plenary session of the European Parliament, “got to work” on December 1st.
First of all the Spanish socialist, Teresa Ribera Rodríguez, who took the portfolio of Clean, Fair and Competitive Transition. Hena Virkunen is now the executive vice president with responsibility for Technological Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, while Stéphane Sejourne, took over as executive vice president for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy.
At the same time, Kaya Kalas has assumed the duties of High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy who is also Executive Vice-President of the Commission, while Roxana Minzatou is the Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Readiness. Finally, Raffaele Fito, is now the executive vice-president for Cohesion and Reforms. As for the Greek Commissioner, Apostolos Tzitzikosta, he has taken over the portfolio of Transport and Tourism.
The French elections and the collapse of the Barnier government
But when we talk about the political developments in Europe in 2024, the country where everyone’s mind goes is definitely France. The political crisis that is still ongoing began in the parliamentary elections held on June 30 and July 7. In the first round, the far-right National Rally (RN) came first (for the first time in the history of France’s 5th Republic) with 33.1%, followed by the left-wing coalition New People’s Front (NFP) with 28% and the centrist coalition “Together” of Macron with 20%. The right-wing Republicans were defeated, garnering only 6.7%.
when in the second round the left-wing coalition New People’s Front (NFP) came first in seats in the new national assembly, with 180, the centrist coalition “Together” second with 159, with the far-right National Rally finally remaining in third place with 142 seats.
But the fact that no faction won the required majority led to instability, which was wrongly seen as ending after the formation of the government under experienced centre-right politician Michel Barnier on 5 September.
The Barnier government did not manage to pass the budget, however. France is currently in political crisis once again, with President Macron instructing centrist Francois Bayrou to form a government, the members of which have yet to be announced.
Government instability in Germany
Similar governmental instability exists at the moment in Germany as well. There were no elections here in the year he leaves us, but the already unpopular government under the social democrat, Olaf Solz,
The vote of confidence in the Solz government was set for December 16 and after that, as expected, with 207 votes in favor and 394 against, with 116 MPs abstaining.
The only way now for Europe’s largest economy is to go to the polls, with the election “battle” set for February 23. In the polls so far, Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats are ahead with 31%. Second comes the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) with 19%, followed by the Social Democrats (SPD) with 17%, the Greens with 13%, the left-wing anti-immigration party of Zara Wagenknecht with 6%, the liberal Free Democrats with 4% and the left Die Linke with 3%.
The change of government in Great Britain
However, we had important political developments in the past year in Great Britain as well. There, Labor under Keir Starmer ended the Conservatives’ 14 consecutive years in power,
In more detail, Labor now has 411 seats in Parliament, with the Conservatives on 121 and the Lib Dems on 72. The Starmer government does not seem to be shaken much so far, while as far as Greek interests are concerned, the change of power seems to have given new momentum in the negotiations for the return of the Parthenon Sculptures.
The pro-European protests in Georgia
With the war in Ukraine raging, eastern Europe is now at a critical crossroads, with Russia looking to create satellite states, putting pressure on the EU and NATO. The case of Georgia is typical,
It all started on November 29, when the Georgian government announced its decision to freeze until 2028 the dialogue on the country’s accession to the European Union. This decision is considered contrary to the wishes of the majority of citizens, who want Georgia to get as close as possible to the West, while moving away from Russia, thus leaving behind its Soviet past.
At the same time, the legitimacy of the pro-Russian government at the helm of the country is widely questioned, as its victory in the recent October elections is seen by many as the result of widespread fraud. Even the country’s president herself, Salome Zourabishvili, has announced that she does not recognize the results of the elections, claiming that her country fell victim to a “special operation” by Russia.
A few days later, on December 14, the Georgian parliament that emerged from disputed October elections appointed far-right ex-footballer Mikheil Kavelashvili, a government loyalist, to the country’s presidency.
Elections in Romania
Finally, for a similar reason, the eyes of international analysts were also drawn to the elections in Romania, as on December 6, the presidential elections, which had been held on November 24, deciding that the entire electoral process should be repeated from the beginning, in through suspicions of Russian meddling.
In the first round, far-right anti-European and pro-Russian candidate Kalin Georgescu came first, to everyone’s surprise. His opponent was Elena Lasconi, a centre-right mayor of a small town, who however condemned the Court’s decision to annul the result.
