The European People's Party again wins the most seats in the European Parliament - 181, according to the first estimated results, BNR reported. At the same time, the extreme right is increasing its results.
Second again are the socialists and the democrats with 135 mandates. Third are the liberals with 82 seats, and fourth - the European conservatives and reformists with 71, and they have 2 more seats compared to the previous European Parliament. After them are "Identity and Democracy" with 62, and they have an increase of 13 places. They will probably be joined by the singles, who are 51, as well as by "Others" - just as many. The big blow is for the Greens/European Free Alliance, who take 53 seats, and in the last European Parliament they were the third largest group with 71 seats. The Left is at the bottom of the ranking with 34 places.
This is what the MEP from "Renew Europe" told BNR. Iskra Mihailova when asked if the candidates of "We continue the change" are also included in these 5 mandates from Bulgaria:
"This is a decision of each party and the construction of the new group "Renew Europe" will happen in the second half of June. We expect the first group construction meeting to be on June 25th. Until then, parties interested in participating in this group should declare it.
When asked how French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to dissolve parliament in Paris would affect the group, she replied:
"Despite recent events in France, the group maintains its position as the third political power in the European Parliament. So we continue to bear the responsibility for the pro-European majority.
"What we see as a result for us in the EP is too disappointing,", MEP from the Greens/European Free Alliance Tineke Strick told BNR. As a particularly discouraging fact, she identified the increase in the result of the extreme right, which she said seems quite large. Strick noted that in his last mandate, the three largest groups in the EP - the EPP, the Socialists and the Democrats and "Renew Europe" have worked closely together. Asked if the Greens would join them, she replied:
"We would like to see if they would seek us out and have a strong agenda on the Green Deal, social policy and more generous asylum policy, for example.
Asita Kanko from the European Conservatives and Reformists, for her part, stated:
"We worked very well in the last 5 years, incl. And with Von der Leyen and we'll see depending on the program.