The 2024 European Parliament election ended Sunday with a result that shifts the balance of power in Brussels. Voters across 27 member states elected 720 members of parliament, representing more than 450 million people. The vote, held from June 6 to June 9, was the first European Parliament election since the United Kingdom left the European Union. For the centrist parties that have long defined EU policy, the outcome carries a clear warning.
The European People’s Party, led by Ursula von der Leyen, won the most seats. That victory keeps von der Leyen in a strong position to continue as head of the European Commission. But the headline masks a deeper realignment. Pro-EU centrist, liberal, social democrat, and environmentalist parties all suffered significant losses. These groups have been the backbone of the European project. Their decline is not a footnote.
Meanwhile, anti-EU right-wing populist parties gained ground. The European Conservatives and Reformists group overtook the centrist Renew Europe group, claiming the fourth-most seats. Another right-wing group, Patriots for Europe — the successor to the Identity and Democracy group — won the third-most seats. This is not a fringe surge. It is a structural shift in the parliament’s composition.
The stakes are concrete. The European Parliament shapes laws on trade, climate, migration, and digital regulation. It approves the EU budget. It confirms the commission president. A parliament with a larger right-wing bloc can block legislation, slow negotiations, and force compromises that water down policies. The Green Deal, the EU’s flagship climate package, faces a more hostile environment. Migration rules, already contentious, will be harder to tighten or reform in a liberal direction. The centrist coalition that drove EU integration for decades now must reckon with a stronger opposition that questions the union’s direction.
Voters cast ballots in a complex political landscape. The election coincided with national votes in several member states, which amplified the stakes. Each country’s domestic fight bled into the European result. In France, Germany, and Italy, right-wing parties capitalized on discontent over immigration, inflation, and the cost of the green transition. The result is a parliament where the center still holds a plurality, but the margins have shifted right.
For von der Leyen, the path forward is narrower. She can still build a majority, but it will require more concessions. The European People’s Party will need allies. The traditional coalition with social democrats and liberals is mathematically possible but politically strained. The liberals lost seats. The social democrats lost seats. The Greens lost seats. The arithmetic works, but the politics may not. Von der Leyen will have to decide whether to court the right or try to hold the center together with a weaker hand. Either choice carries risk.
The election also marks a generational moment. It is the first European Parliament election after Brexit. The departure of British MEPs shifted the parliament’s balance. The UK had a large contingent of anti-EU members. Their absence might have been expected to strengthen pro-EU forces. Instead, the rise of right-wing parties within the remaining member states filled the vacuum. The EU’s internal divisions are now more visible than its external unity.
What happens next matters. The parliament will elect a new commission president. It will negotiate the next multiannual budget. It will vote on trade deals, climate targets, and digital rules. The 2024 election did not produce a revolution. But it produced a parliament that looks different from the one before. The center is thinner. The right is stronger. The implications will unfold over the next five years.
