EU elections 2024 live: ‘Conservative values will impact EU policymaking like never before,’ says rightwing group

• The latest provisional results for the European parliament elections put the centre-right European People’s party at 186 seats, the Socialists and Democrats at 135, Renew Europe at 79, the European Conservatives and Reformists group at 73, the far-right Identity and Democracy at 58, the Greens at 53 and the Left at 36.

• A spokesperson for Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany will not follow France and hold a snap election despite the ruling coalition’s dismal performance in the EU election.

• France’s foreign minister, Stéphane Séjourné, said “yesterday’s result is a lightning bolt in political life, we must take that into account.”

• Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president and lead candidate for the centre-right European People’s party, argued that the extreme right and left did not do as well as expected. “We had a strong win, as European People’s party – so this shows that you can withstand the pressure from the extremes and be successful,” von der Leyen said.

• The European Conservatives and Reformists party congratulated its member parties and said “conservative values will impact EU policymaking like never before in the European Union’s history.”

• Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister and the EU’s most Kremlin-friendly leader, has said that “Europe’s political landscape has shifted to the right and towards peace.”

• Giorgia Meloni is in good spirits but so is Italy’s opposition leader Elly Schlein, who managed to salvage Italy’s centre-left Democratic party (PD) from the doldrums in the European elections and narrow the gap with the prime minister’s Brothers of Italy. “Meloni, we’re coming,” Schlein said in a press conference.

• Israel’s foreign minister, Israel Katz, seized on the European election results as a means of continuing his attacks on Spain’s socialist-led government, which has infuriated the Netanyahu administration by criticising the war in Gaza and recognising a Palestinian state.

• Yolanda Díaz, Spain’s labour minister and one of the country’s three deputy prime ministers, announced that she is stepping down as leader of the leftwing Sumar alliance following its disappointing results on Sunday.

• Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president, took a jab at the French president and German chancellor. “Well, well, respected by no one Macron and Scholz, have you seen the EU parliament elections results?” he wrote on social media.

• Argentina’s far-right, self-styled “anarcho-capitalist” president, Javier Milei, offered his upper-case congratulations to the European far right.

Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister and the EU’s most Kremlin-friendly leader, has said that “Europe’s political landscape has shifted to the right and towards peace.”

“We will build on these results in the coming months to achieve our goals, as Hungary takes over the Presidency of the EU,” he added.

While Orbán’s ruling party got the most votes in Hungary, its performance – at 44.79% – was much lower than the previous couple of European elections. A new opposition movement, Tisza, has done well, winning nearly 30% of the vote.

Evika Siliņa, the Latvian prime minister, said she is nominating Valdis Dombrovskis as the country’s EU commissioner for the next term.

Dombrovskis has already been serving as the current Commission’s executive vice-president, working on economy and trade issues.

Here are the latest provisional results for the European elections

We asked Balázs Orbán, political director for the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, which European political grouping Fidesz will seek to join now that the elections are over, and whether they already have assurances that Fidesz will be accepted.

“We are considering joining the European Conservatives and Reformists Group,” the political director said in an email today, adding however that “we would prefer a broader cooperation on the European right.”

“The next few days and weeks of negotiations will be key in making our final decision,” he said.

Asked whether the Hungarian government will re-evaluate its political strategy or any policies as a result of the opposition Tisza’s strong performance in the European election, he said:

Winning an election is a clear sign that the political strategy works. If Hungary had held its parliamentary elections yesterday, the governing parties would have secured a 2/3 majority once again, marking the fifth consecutive victory since 2010.

The European Conservatives and Reformists party, which includes members such as Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and Poland’s Law and Justice, congratulated parties and said “conservative values will impact EU policymaking like never before in the European Union’s history.”

And here are the updated provisional results for the European elections:

The European election has marked a major shift in Hungary’s political landscape.

While Viktor Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party won the most votes, its performance was very poor compared to recent European elections. Fidesz took 44.79% yesterday, compared to 52.56% in 2019 and 51.48% in 2014.

Tisza, a party led by former government insider Péter Magyar, took 29.6%, despite being a new movement with no resources or party apparatus – and despite the fact that just a few months ago, virtually nobody had even heard of Magyar.

“I think it shows that there is a clear appetite for something new,” said Zsuzsanna Végh, a programme officer at the German Marshall Fund.

Magyar, who used to be married to Orbán’s former justice minister, became a sensation in Hungary after he began openly criticising the government in February. His move came following the resignation of Hungary’s president, Katalin Novák, after it emerged that she pardoned a man convicted of covering up a child sexual abuse case.

A former diplomat, Magyar cast himself as a centrist, mixing nationalist rhetoric with an anti-corruption platform and pledging to improve education and health care.

Ahead of the election, he travelled across the country, visiting small towns that rarely get much attention from national political figures. And his social media savvy helped reach voters in a country where the opposition’s access to traditional media is limited.

While Orbán’s politics is based on an ‘us vs. them’ approach, Magyar has taken a completely different tone, telling voters he wants to bring together right-wing, left-wing and liberal Hungarians in a bid to challenge Orbán’s position.

Sunday’s results translate into 11 seats for Fidesz and 7 for Tisza. Only two other groupings won seats: a coalition of social democrats and greens took 2 seats, and an extreme-right party took 1 seat. Other parties, including the liberal Momentum, didn’t manage to take even a single seat.

“For the opposition, it is bad news, indeed – but it also is bad news for Fidesz, because Fidesz’s strategy against Magyar hasn’t worked,” Végh said.

“They have not faced a situation before where they do have a single strong challenger,” she said. “Fidesz will need a new strategy as well, how to deal with this new situation,” she added.

The Hungarian government, however, has insisted that they had a good day, with Orbán declaring victory.

Asked if Magyar’s performance impacts Orbán’s position ahead of the 2026 national election, a senior Hungarian government official said “it’s too early to say.”

And asked if there are worries inside the Hungarian government about Magyar, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said: “not really.”

“He is more dangerous to the opposition at the moment than the government,” they added.

Yolanda Díaz, Spain’s labour minister and one of the country’s three deputy prime ministers, has announced that she is stepping down as leader of the leftwing Sumar alliance following its disappointing results on Sunday. The platform, which was assembled to campaign in last year’s general election, won just three seats – only one more than its rivals in Podemos.

The platform fared so badly that the United Left coalition, one of Sumar’s core members, failed to secure a single seat on Sunday.

“These last elections have acted as a mirror,” Díaz said in a streamed statement on Monday afternoon. “People don’t make mistakes when they vote – and neither do they make mistakes if they decide not to vote. That’s always our responsibility – and, without a doubt, in this case, that’s my responsibility. The people have spoken and I’m taking responsibility. I’ve decided to leave my post as Sumar coordinator. There needs to be a debate and my decision paves the way for that debate.”

Díaz will continue with her ministerial duties.

Giorgia Meloni is in good spirits but so is opposition leader Elly Schlein, who managed to salvage Italy’s centre-left Democratic party (PD) from the doldrums in the European elections and narrow the gap with the prime minister’s Brothers of Italy.

“Meloni, we’re coming,” Schlein said during a press conference on Monday. It was in response to Meloni’s victory swipe at the opposition: “They saw us coming but were unable to stop us”.

The PD won 24.1% of the vote, up from the 19% gained in the 2022 Italian general election.

Schlein said she had spoken to Meloni, whose Brothers of Italy party scored almost 29%, and the pair congratulated each other.

“We didn’t stop them but we have certainly slowed them down,” she said. “The European elections usually strengthen whoever is in power, but they never arrived at the 30% threshold and we surpassed 20%.”

Schlein, elected PD leader in February 2023, has struggled to unite the party amid fears she is taking it too far to the left, but supporters say Sunday’s result defies her critics.

“This is an excellent result for the Democratic party and confirms that the line chosen by leader Elly Schlein is the right one,” said PD politician Laura Boldrini. “We are the fastest growing party and the second [biggest] in the country.”