AfD helps inflict worst-ever EU defeat on Olaf Scholz’s party

Germany’s hard-Right Alternative for Deutschland (AfD) party shrugged off a string of scandals as it surged in the EU parliament elections on Sunday.

AfD claimed second place, exit polls showed, with the centre-Right CDU claiming top spot.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) scored their worst result ever in a European parliamentary election, with conservatives saying time had run out for his so-called “traffic light” coalition.

Mr Scholz has overseen a programme of government that includes legalising cannabis and making it easier to switch gender.

Young voters in particular scorned his party, with large numbers of under-30s voting for AfD.

The AfD has been plagued by scandals in recent months with its lead candidate having to step back from campaigning in May after declaring that the SS, the Nazis’ main paramilitary force, were “not all criminals”.

But that did not appear to influence voters, with the AfD gaining 16.2 per cent of the vote, according to an exit poll by state broadcaster ARD.

Germany’s Greens were the biggest loser on Sunday, falling 8.6 percentage points to 11.9 per cent, according to the ARD exit poll, punished by voters for the cost of policies to reduce CO2 emissions – in line with expectations for environmental parties across Europe.

Scholz’s Social Democrats (SPD) and the third coalition partner, the pro-business Free Democrats (FDP) also fared poorly, expected to win 14 per cent and 5 per cent of the vote respectively, down from 15.8 per cent and 5.4 per cent in the last election.

The conservatives, who are in opposition at federal level, were forecast to come first, rising slightly to 30.2 per cent.

“People are concerned with jobs being secured and the problems with inflation and migration solved and that it is not primarily about cannabis and gender changes,” Reiner Haseloff, the CDU’s prime minister for Saxony-Anhalt.

Hendrik Wüst, the regional leader of North Rhine-Westphalian, added: “The vote is also a clear signal from the voters to the traffic lights – stop arguing and finally make policy for the people in this state.”

The AfD was thrown out of Marine Le Pen’s Identity and Democracy group after its candidate Maximilan Krakh’s remarks on the SS. Ms Le Pen then called on hard-Right Italian leader Georgia Meloni to form a conservative coalition with her after the European vote.

Both the CDU and the AfD have taken aim at EU net zero rules, with the former party of Angela Merkel vowing to roll back a Brussels ban on the combustion engine.

Ms Meloni has emerged as a potential kingmaker as Right-wing forces posted strong results across Europe and is being courted by Ursula von der Leyen to support her for a second term as European Commission president.

Mrs von der Leyen’s centre-Right European People’s Party is predicted to remain the largest group of like-minded parties in the new parliament.

However, the success of hard-Right parties like the AfD is expected to drag the centre-Right coalition, which still holds a majority in the EU parliament, to the Right on issues such as migration and climate change.

Parties opposed to the EU’s net zero target were successful across Europe in a vote held after farmers’ tractor protests against net zero, a flagship policy in Mrs von der Leyen’s first term.

The demonstrations paralysed Europe with farmers arguing the regulations were too expensive during the cost of living crisis triggered by the war in Ukraine.

The hard-Right Freedom Party of Austria will also be the largest Austrian party in the European elections after exit polls predicted they won 27 per cent of the vote.

Leader Herbert Kickl has vowed to kill off “climate communism” as Right-wing parties lead a European backlash against the bloc’s net zero target.

The centre-Right Österreichische Volkspartei took 23.5 per cent and the centre-Left 23 per cent, while the Greens came a distant joint fourth with 10.5 per cent.

The pro-Putin Freedom Party’s victory will raise expectations of them entering government after a general election which must be held by Autumn this year.

In the Netherlands, Geert Wilders’ Freedom Party, which triumphed in a general election last year, leapt from a single MEP to seven.

The hard-Right nationalist, who has called on the Dutch to quit the Paris agreement on climate change, finished a narrow second to the alliance of Green and Left parties led by former EU climate boss Frans Timmermans, which lost a seat.

Mr Wilders’ putative coalition partners, the Farmers-Citizen Movement (BBB), won two seats after their landslide victory in regional elections dominated by tractor protests that spread across Europe.

Spain’s socialist leader Pedro Sanchez suffered defeat at the hands of his centre-Right rivals in the European elections.

Mr Sanchez lost the popular vote in Spain’s general election last July to the Partido Popular but was able to form a Left-wing coalition to stay in government.

The PP took 32.4 per cent of the vote compared to the socialists’ 30.2 per cent in a deeply polarised country.

The hard-Right Vox came third, taking 10.4 per cent, ahead of Mr Sanchez’s coalition partners on 6.3 per cent.

In Poland, however, the pro-EU Donald Tusk beat the eurosceptic Law and Justice party into second place. Hard-Right parties in Portugal and Romania also performed below expectations.