Summary

The EU Parliament results are in and, in keeping with the institution’s prosaic reputation, they are thoroughly middling: the establishment blocs bent without breaking, and the nationalists failed to bring the house down.

This is not to say that the results are inconsequential. On the contrary, they will ripple through the politics of the entire continent, making some national governments and breaking others. The legislative process in the new EU Parliament will also enter unknown territory now that the two largest establishment blocs won’t be able to band together and form a majority.