Europe is entering a new era. Conservative ideas can no longer be silenced.
Across the European Union, conservative policies triumphed in the European Parliament elections earlier this month, ushering in a new mandate for secure borders, fewer government regulations, and reinvigorated domestic agricultural production.
On the EU parliamentarian level as well as in member states across the continent, Europeans made their voices heard. It’s time for a change.
In France, the right-wing National Rally “obliterated” President Emmanuel Macron’s party with 31.5 percent of the vote, more than twice that of Macron’s party. These results have led Macron to call for snap legislative elections at the end of the month.
Spanish liberals went “extinct” this cycle, according to POLITICO. As the conservative Vox party became the third-largest party with over 10 percent of votes, Spain’s liberal party, “Ciudadanos,” completely collapsed, causing major losses for the EU Parliament’s Renew party.
In Germany, more than a million people who previously voted for the unpopular governing parties voted for the conservative party this time around.
Conservative wins in Belgium left Prime Minister Alex De Croo in tears as he and his far-left party resigned from their posts.
This weekend’s results were a shock to the system for Brussels elites and their friends in establishment media, who were “rattled” by the results. Their shock was further evidence of their ignorance of the common-sense conservative thought revolution happening outside of Brussels’ pearly gates.
News flash: Europeans don’t want the globalist elites’ open borders agenda, onerous climate regulations, or out of control spending that drives up their cost of living. Voters — specifically young voters — rejected far-keft parties like Reform and the Greens and sought refuge in conservative parties.
The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board said it best: “Europeans Rebuke the European Union.”
Since March, the EU-US Forum has exposed these failed policies and the far-left leaders who peddle the globalist agenda at the EU. As a nonprofit committed to highlighting these failures and stopping them from spreading worldwide, we have blanketed Europe with messaging and ad campaigns to “demand change at the EU.” Sunday’s results prove that Europeans are ready for conservative leadership and reject the far-left path that EU bureaucrats have forged for Europe.
Brussels must now hear Europe’s citizens loud and clear: enough is enough. Europeans are sick and tired of living as pawns in the schemes of the global left-wing elite. The voters have decided: it’s time for change at the EU.
But what comes next? What does that change look like?
For starters, a crackdown on the EU’s open borders agenda is necessary for the EU member states’ survival. In our EU-US survey we released a few weeks ago, illegal immigration was a significant concern for respondents across all surveyed member states.
The EU can take immediate steps to address the problem: increasing penalties for human traffickers who are in the business of smuggling migrants into the EU, providing support to individual member states to help protect their own borders, and empowering Europol to coordinate the the EU’s operational response to migrant smuggling.
Cost of living was a top issue for Europeans in the same EU-US Forum/Tyson Group poll. A staggering 75 percent of respondents in Portugal say the cost of living is one of the most critical issues facing their country. The EU must propose a goal to reduce debt in all member countries to a ratio below 100 percent of GDP and establish a new European Union standard of top marginal tax rates that are below 50 percent in all member countries.
Environmental extremism and overregulation were a hallmark of the leftist European Green and Reform parties’ agenda,and a major contributor to their staggering defeat (they lost a combined 41 seats in European Parliament). Ripping up the European Green Deal is crucial. We must then focus on reversing the deindustrialization of Europe, reclaiming jobs and manufacturing, rebuilding Europe’s energy independence, and fostering a fecund agricultural sector.
And what does this mean for the rest of the globe? The EU elections will stand as a signal for the rest of the world that citizens of Europe are fed up with the dangerous policies that the far left has been pushing for years: reckless spending, open borders, and stifling regulation. It also means there is hope for Europe to change course for the better — and a more prosperous West will only benefit America in the long run.
Finally, these results could very well be a sign of what is to come here at home. American voters have the chance to shock the world for a second time in November and ensure that conservative policies endure for years to come. A victory for President Donald Trump isn’t only a threat to the far-left agenda in America, but an opportunity to forge a new partnership with our newly elected allies across the Atlantic.
Matt Mowers is the founding board member of the EU US Forum and former Trump administration state department official.
Joe Grogan is a senior advisor for the EU US Forum and former director of the Domestic Policy Council in the Trump administration.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller.
