European Election breakdown: What to expect in the next five years

For the past four days, EU citizens have been casting their ballots in the European Parliament elections. In Catalonia and the rest of Spain, Sunday, June 9th was the big day. Gerard Escaich Folch joins Lea Beliaeva Bander the morning after for a Filling the Sink post-election special to break down the results in Europe, Spain, and Catalonia. Millions of people have flocked to polling stations across the European Union to make their voices heard, and in Spain’s case, to elect the 61 representatives for Spain in the European Parliament. The main issues in this election cycle were the war in Ukraine, arms versus defense, the Green Deal, migration, and the rise of the far right all over the Union. In Spain, the results showed a narrow victory for the right and far-right parties, while the Socialists secured a majority in Catalonia. We hear reactions from all the Catalan parties that made it cut, including the far-right anti-establishment party Se acabó la Fiesta, as well as the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. We discuss what the ballot results will mean for European politics over the next five years and how it could all affect Catalonia. The Catalan phrase of the week is ‘L’Oda a l’Alegría’ or ‘Ode to Joy’ in English, which was originally composed by Beethoven in 1823, with words adapted from a 1785 poem by Friedrich Schiller, and adopted as the Anthem of Europe in 1972 by the European Council and later by the European Union. Get in touch with the podcast team: [email protected]