Economic skeptics rule E.U. polls
TEXT OF STORY
Bill Radke: Voting wrapped up over the weekend for the European Parliament. All 27 E.U. countries went to the polls. The big winners were the parties of the center right. That had a lot to do with the economy, as Christopher Werth reports from London.
Christopher Werth: Ruling conservatives in Germany and France were the ones that refused to support ever-bigger bailouts and increased stimulus spending. They see the victory as support for their handling of the economic crisis.
But voter turn out was at a record low of 43 percent, compared to 45 percent in 2004.
Katinka Barysch of the Center for European Reform says that helped far right, anti-immigration and euroskeptic parties. Their supporters, frustrated by rising unemployment, are more likely to show up at the polls.
Katinka Barysch: It is, of course, the case that we are in the middle of a deep economic recession in Europe, that people are in some countries extremely dissatisfied with their political establishment, and they really want to show their governments that they want to them to protect their jobs and their income.
The biggest casualty may be yet to come. Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labor Party came in a humiliating third place in the U.K. Party members could decide to oust their leader at a meeting later today.
In London, this is Christopher Werth for Marketplace.
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