Subdued night at defeated parliament

By Alexandra Fouché
BBC News Online, European Parliament, Brussels

The atmosphere in Brussels has been rather subdued all night, perhaps as a reflection of the lowest turnout ever for European elections with under 45% of eligible voters estimated to have taken part.

Turnout was low across Europe

In spite of the months of preparation and campaigning around Europe to promote the elections, parties failed to ignite voters' imagination.

The only bit of excitement all night was provided by the Euro 2004 football match between France and England, as results trickled through showing an early lead for the EPP-EU centre-right group.

A seemingly disappointed European Parliament President Pat Cox was at pains to emphasise that the election was the largest democratic exercise ever, although he agreed the performance Europe-wide was "a very differentiated one".

"A hundred and fifty-five million people took part in the elections and [this] represents the largest single exercise of democracy that our continent has shared," he said.

"The great majority in the new parliament constitutes a pro-European majority. Parliament will have a new diversity... new elements of a Eurosceptic nature on a scale not there before, and groups or parties representing the extreme right."

These new parties represented not much more than 10-15% of the total, and though significant must be put in context, he said.

He pointed out that the new Mediterranean islands showed a better than average performance, which meant the new member countries in the Baltics and Eastern Europe suffered in comparison.

'Phenomenal result'

Hans Gert Poettering, leader of the EPP-ED group in Berlin, declared himself satisfied with the results in spite of the fact that his group, which previously held 297 seats, is predicted to get an average of 269 seats.

It's a great day for Europe. It's a day when we can celebrate democracy Enrique Baron Crespo PES group leader

"We lost some seats and I don't want to discuss the reasons why; it's a phenomenal result. The result five years ago was slightly better, but I'm satisfied.

"We were very strong in 1999 and since then we've been able to build on that - in accession countries as well. I think people voted in terms of their own governments [rather than on European issues]."

All group leaders seem to agree the way to improve this sad state of affairs was to work even harder on selling the European Parliament to voters with the help of the media, which politicians argue share the blame in failing to raise voters' interests.

For the Socialists, the results are only marginally less gloomy with 199 seats predicted against 232 seats in the last Parliament.

"It's a great day for Europe. It's a day when we can celebrate democracy. For the Socialists, the result is positive, we consolidated our position, we are an important driving force for the future of Europe. We are more or less in the same position [as before]," said Enrique Baron Crespo, PES group leader in Brussels.

The soul-searching and finger-pointing now begins, with the next big date in the European calendar the European summit at the end of this week which is hoping to settle the vexed question of a new European constitution and a new President for the parliament.