The European Parliament's centre did indeed hold

All the news media are describing the European Parliament election results in almost apocalyptic terms, highlighting the continued rise of the far right in European politics. "Far right parties surge in European Parliament vote", says the CBC. "Marine Le Pen's far right party makes historic gains in EU election", says EuroNews. "The far right made big gains in European elections", says AP. "Far right makes significant gains in European Parliament elections", says the Financial Times. Etc, etc.

But a particular graphic in the Globe and Mail, comparing the old Parliament make-up and the new post-election make-up, has me scratching my head. It really doesn't look that bad.

Yes, the Green's took an unfortunate tumble from 71 to 53 seats, as people continue to jettison environmental concerns in favour of their own selfish, short-term economic concerns. And yes, the liberal-centre Renew Europe party likewise suffered a sizeable 102 to 79-seat haircut, and the Socialists and Democrats party a smaller loss (from 139 to 134). The far left parties more or less held their own relatively modest share, losing only one of their 37 seats.

But the ruling centre-right European People's Party actually picked up ten seats (from 176 to 186), and remains far and away the largest single party in the Parliament. The centre-right European Conservatives and Reformists grouping also increased their seat count (from 69 to 73). As Ursula von der Leyen stresses, "the centre is holding", and her party remains very much at the helm of the European political enterprise. 

Like last time, she still needs to cobble together a coalition, preferably without having to involve the more extreme groupings. But she is a wily and experienced coalition, and I for one have great faith in her ability to do that.

So, where is the "catastrophic", "historic" and "unprecedented" rise of the anti-immigration, Euro-skeptic and climate-skeptic extreme right in all this? As far as I can see, the far right Identity and Democracy grouping (which includes France's National Rally, Austria's Freedom Party, Italy's League, and Germany's Alternative For Germany, among others) increased its seat count from 49 to 58, a big gain in percentage terms, but still pretty modest in absolute numbers. They will not be running the chamber with those numbers.

Probably of more concern are the far right gains in specific countries, particularly France, Germany, Italy and Austria. (Although, even so, what on earth was Macron thinking immediately calling a general election, thereby risking handing the far right domestic power as well as power within the broader European context? If you are down, keep a low profile until you can do something about it - don't expose your vulnerable underbelly to more abuse.)

But overall, the centre did indeed hold, and the sky is not yet falling. The prospect of a surging extreme right is admittedly alarming, but it hasn't happened yet. Let's keep this in perspective.