Europe faces most important EU vote, says Macron
French president warns integration at risk and urges unity ahead of EU parliamentary elections
Brussels — Europeans start voting on Thursday in four days of elections to the EU parliament that will influence not just Brussels policy for the next five years but, to some extent, the very future of the union project itself. In 2014, nationalists hostile to the EU doubled their presence in the assembly, topped the poll in Britain and won a referendum there that yanked out one of the bloc’s biggest members. Almost. Five years on, polls show eurosceptics gaining again. But Brexit is yet to happen, and may not; Brussels’ enemies will still struggle to top 20%; and the far-right goes into the weekend hit by scandal over its Austrian flagbearer’s videotaped collusion with a supposed Russian oligarch’s niece eager to buy favour. Others who want to halt or reverse federalist trends if not scrap the EU altogether, also face headwinds. Some who are tasting national power must also face disillusioned supporters, notably Italy’s co-rulers the League and 5-Star. The European project is facin...
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