Populists Shatter EU Status Quo With Strong Showing In Parliamentary Vote, by Tyler Durden.

Winning over 30% of seats, Eurosceptic parties and anti-establishment groups now control their largest bloc of votes since the first EU Parliamentary election in 1979. …

Though pro-European groups together maintain a clear majority, this broad grouping has become increasingly fragmented, which could complicate policy making, while a strong showing from eurosceptics will mount a serious challenge to the status quo. …

In the UK, which only opted to participate in the vote at the last minute as part of a can-kicking agreement with Brussels to extend the deadline for the UK’s departure from the EU, Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party won a plurality of votes (31.7%) – though liberal-leaning media outlets in the UK opted to spin the result as a victory for the “remain” camp, as the LibDems, Greens, SNP, Change UK and miscellaneous other parties won a combined 38%. …

However, analysts are skeptical that the eurosceptic groups will be able to overcome partisan squabbling and work together to form a pan-European coalition – which is the only way to exercise real influence within the European Parliament. They will also lose some of their support when the UK finally leaves the bloc (if that ever happens), and the UK’s 73 parliamentary seats are redistributed.