www.iepn.org Major Earthquakes? August 2018 Tectonic shifts in the EU and Israel after the elections: Implications for Europe and the Middle East – Israeli and European Perspectives Brussels, Belgium July 10th-11th, 2019 Edited by: Dr. Jan Busse, Dr. Ruth Hanau Santini, Dr. Roby Nathanson, Dr. Paul Pasch, and Mr. Yanai Weiss The annual European meeting of the Israeli­European Policy Network(IEPN) in Brussels focused on the results of the Israeli general elections conducted in April 2019 as well as the upcoming elections in September, and the European Parliament elections conducted in May 2019, and their impact on EU-Israel relations. The elections for the European Parliament were held between May 23 and May 26, 2019. Two major issues occupied the public discourse in Europe in the months prior to the election – the Brexit plan and the possibility that the trend of the rise in power of populist parties, especially from the right wing, will continue. As for Brexit, the UK has been granted an extension of article 50, until October 31, 2019, and therefore it has participated in the EU elections. With regards to the rise of far-right populist parties, the trend already observed in the 2014 elections has continued, albeit its pace has somehow decreased. In 2014, despite the surge of right wing populist parties, representing the third largest political force in EU politics, the historical blocs(EPP and S&D) managed to preserve the majority. Since then, right wing populist parties have continued to gain power all across Europe – France, Germany, Austria, Sweden and Italy all experienced this rise in the national elections held in each country. The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland are all led by right wing populists. Therefore, it was expected that also in the 2019 European Parliamentary elections, far-right populist parties would strengthen their position. However, while right-wing populists gained votes, there was no massive surge as was originally expected by many observers. What was perhaps more striking was the loss by the two key parliamentary blocs – The Center-Right European People’s Party(EPP) and the Socialists and Democrats(S&D) – of the majority. Other surprises included the electoral successes of the liberal party (which obtained 106 seats, gaining 38) and of the Greens(which obtained 74 seats, as compared to the previous 52 seats in 2014). In the right camp, the nationalist bloc received 58 seats, an increase of 21 seats, and the populist bloc received 54 seats, an increase of 13 seats. The right wing nationalists(Europe of Nations and Freedom – ENF, replaced in 2019 by the Identity and Democracy – ID) strengthened their support mostly in Italy and France and the populist bloc(Europe of Freedom and Democracy – EFD) strengthened in the UK, where the vote mainly focused on Brexit(contrary, in Germany the Alternative for Germany(AfD) party actually received less votes compared to the 2017 elections in the country). In the left, the majority of the increase in support for the liberals came from France, Denmark and Estonia, and much of the increase in the Green bloc arrived from Germany, Finland, France and the UK. In general, the results demonstrate a growing split among Europeans, however there has been a clear pro-EU majority. A higher than usual turnout managed to somewhat halt the increase of right wing populist parties, suggesting that pro-European voters participated in the election in higher rates. In addition, the fear of the rise of extreme right wing parties and populist parties resulted in a major shift in votes that increased the power of the liberals and the green parties in the left. While it seems the pro­Europeans have a majority in the Parliament, this does not mean that the rules of the game did not change. The traditional parties survived the elections, however they need to adapt to a rapidly changing reality in which their exclusivity in the decision making process in Europe is decreasing. In the meantime, in Israel, general elections have been held on April 9th, 2019. In the beginning it seemed as if, once again, the right bloc, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud party had won the 111