NEWS ANALYSIS: Donald Trump triumph emboldens Europe’s populist parties
Berlin/Rome/Amsterdam — This May, when Donald’s Trump’s US presidential election victory seemed the remotest of possibilities, a senior European official took to Twitter before a G7 summit in Tokyo to warn of a "horror scenario". Imagine, mused Martin Selmayr, cabinet head of Jean-Claude Juncker’s European Commission, if at next year’s meeting of the club of rich nations the places of Barack Obama, Francois Hollande, David Cameron and Matteo Renzi were taken by Trump, Marine le Pen, Boris Johnson and Beppe Grillo. A month later, Britain shocked the world by voting to exit the European Union. Cameron quit as prime minister and Johnson — the former London mayor who helped to swing Britons behind Brexit — became foreign minister. Now, with Trump’s triumph over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, the populist tsunami that seemed outlandish a few months ago is becoming reality. The consequences for Europe’s political landscape are potentially huge.
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