Although attention during the European Parliament (EP) elections is focused on the success of the far right, some vocal anti-establishment candidates from the left and right will win seats. The Reuters agency made a selection of several new MEPs:
Czech Republic
Filip Turek - Party of motorists
The Motorist Party of Czech car collector and former motorcyclist Filip Turek is a Eurosceptic group with no representation in the Czech parliament, which claims to defend the rights of drivers against EU climate policies. She formed a coalition with the protest party Zakletva and together they won third place with 10,3 percent of the vote. Turek (38), who calls for the reshaping of Europe, is growing in popularity on social networks. However, police have been investigating photos from several years ago, in which he uses the Nazi salute, as well as some other activities that could indicate he harbors Nazi sympathies. No charges were filed, and he dismissed the charges as a misunderstanding due to a bad sense of humor in the past.
Njemacka
Marie-Agnes Štrak-Zimmerman - German liberals
Marie Agnes Štrak-Zimmerman, a well-known member of the German Bundestag and a military expert, will enter the EP ahead of her liberal party, the FDP.
She is a strong supporter of Ukraine and has criticized the German chancellor Olaf Solac, its coalition partner, because on several occasions he was too hesitant to send weapons to Kiev, including German Taurus cruise missiles.
She recently said that Scholz is an "autistic know-it-all".
This 66-year-old ran an active campaign, criticizing the president of the European Commission (EC). Ursula von der Leyen due to the increase in bureaucracy and due to excessive regulations in the economy.
Maximilian Krach (Independent)
He was his party's main candidate, but Maximilian Krah will now have to sit as an independent MEP after a series of scandals made him too toxic for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD).
A gifted orator, the 47-year-old lawyer belonged to the far-right wing of his party, and had attracted the attention of security services for nationalist and Islamophobic comments.
None of this stopped his party colleagues from overwhelmingly choosing him as the main candidate in the European elections, but it was humiliating for a German party that presents itself as primarily patriotic when his assistant was accused of spying for China.
The last straw was his statement to an Italian newspaper that not all members of the Nazi paramilitary SS formation were bad people, which is why Marine Le Pen's National Assembly severed ties with the AfD.
Petr Bajstron (AfD)
Another right-wing AfD member, Petr Bajstron, criticized Germany's sending aid to Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion. It later turned out that this 51-year-old businessman of Czech and German origin is a regular visitor to propaganda portals closely linked to the Kremlin.
Czech security services claim he received money to appear. Bajstron did not explicitly deny these allegations, but said that they were part of a political attack on him.
During the pandemic, he was a prominent critic of vaccination policies, accusing "globalists" of trying to "enslave" people with "mandatory vaccination."
Karola Rakete (Left)
Her party may be on the verge of disappearing, but sailor, activist and environmentalist, 35-year-old Karola Rakete is one of the most prominent faces that will grace the European Parliament.
Rakete spent much of her youth on research trips to Antarctica and protesting against deforestation, but rose to fame as the captain of the ship Sea-Watch 3, defying the authorities by rescuing Libyan refugees from drowning in the Mediterranean and disembarking them in Italian ports .
Because of this, she was briefly under house arrest and targeted by right-wing politicians, but at the same time she became a heroine for many on the left, which resulted in her election as the joint main candidate of the German left in the European elections.
Although the party won less than three percent of the vote, it seems that it will be guaranteed to be elected. Although she is best known for her rescue work, Rakete says she wants parliament to focus on environmental and climate issues, emphasizing a fair sharing of the costs of adapting to and minimizing climate change between rich and poor countries.
Italija
General Roberto Vanaci - Liga
Vanaći is a general of the Italian army who published a book last year in which he belittles the LGBTQ+ population, minorities and feminists. His ideas caused outrage among many, but they resonated with the leaders of the far-right League, Matteo Salvini, who hired him as the main candidate of his party.
In his bestseller, Vanaci questions whether non-white people can ever be Italian, even if they were born in that country, and defends the right of every person to "hate".
Vanacci, a 55-year-old paratrooper commander, was a military attaché at the Italian embassy in Moscow. He is under investigation for embezzlement during his stay in Russia. He denies the allegations. He was also suspended from the army and accused of discrediting the army with his book.
Ilaria Salis - Italian Union of Greens and the Left (AVS)
Salisova, a 39-year-old Italian teacher, has been detained in Hungary for more than a year for allegedly attacking far-right militants, which she denies. Her case sparked outrage in Italy in February when she was brought into a courtroom with her hands and feet shackled and a chain around her waist.
Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 11 years in prison. Her high profile secured her a place on the AVS electoral list and as an elected MP she now has immunity and will be released in Hungary.
Poljska
Danijel Obajtek - Law and Justice (PiS)
Danijel Obajtek, CEO of the Orlen state refinery from 2018 until the nationalist Pravo i Pravda party lost power in 2023, faces several investigations.
Prosecutors are investigating whether Orlen artificially lowered fuel prices ahead of the 2023 election to help PiS and whether he sold assets belonging to Poland's Lotos refinery below market value to get regulatory approval for the takeover.
They are also investigating Orlen Trading Switzerland's (OTS) loss of around $400 million in subscriptions.
During the time when Obajtek was at the head of the company, Orlen bought the Polska Press publishing house. Critics claim it was an attempt by PiS to gain more control over the media, but Orlen claimed it was purely a business transaction.
Obajtek did not appear at several scheduled hearings before the parliamentary committee, as well as at the hearing in the prosecutor's office. He denies all the charges.
Grzegoz Braun - Confederation
Grzegorz Braun of Poland's far-right Confederation party sparked international outrage in December when he took a fire extinguisher into the lobby of parliament to extinguish candles that had been lit as part of a Hanukkah celebration.
Afterwards, Brown described the Jewish holiday in parliament as "satanic" and said he had restored "normality".
Brown, who has also made pro-Russian statements in the past, has already gained notoriety for incidents such as throwing a Christmas tree decorated with the colors of the European Union and Ukraine into a wastebasket and damaging a microphone while a Holocaust historian was speaking.
Spain
Tereza Ribera - Socialist Party
Spanish Energy Minister Teresa Ribera, 55, will lead a group of 20 Socialist Party MPs who were elected after polls initially suggested the ruling party would suffer a heavy defeat.
Ribera, a technocrat, held the position of minister for six years and is influential in Brussels, where she lobbied for reform of the bloc's energy market.
When Spain held the EU presidency last year, she was a key figure at the COP28 conference in Dubai. It is not excluded that she could get a position in the next convocation of the EC.
In Spain, she has steered an ambitious green agenda since 2018, pushing for a tighter, faster transition to a carbon-free economy.
Jorge Busade - Voks
Jorge Busade, 48, led Spain's far-right party, Vox, to a solid result in the weekend election, increasing its number of parliamentary seats from four to six. He has been the voice of that party in Brussels for the past five years.
Vox's performance was not as strong as other far-right groups in the bloc and was weaker in terms of share of the total vote than in the last national election last July. The result achieved by the party is considered good considering the strong competition and influencer Alvise Perez and his movement "The party is over", which won three seats.
Busade belongs to the most conservative wing of Vox, whose leader Santiago Abascal oscillates between libertarian views to anti-immigration, anti-gay and ultra-conservative positions.
Alvise Perez (Party's Over)
Anti-establishment influencer Alvise Perez won 800 votes and three seats in the EP, mostly from young voters who see the right-wing activist as a role model.
His party does not have an election program, except that it proposes to build a prison with a swimming pool or a gym for corrupt politicians. Perez has promised to give up his MEP salary if elected.
Alvise, who is facing several defamation lawsuits, did not run a traditional campaign but used his social media accounts - nearly a million followers on Instagram, over 500 subscribers on Telegram - to make his symbol, a squirrel wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, popular throughout Spain.
Francuska
Jordan Bardela, National Gathering
A suave 28-year-old with strong support among young French people, Jordan Bardela is the flashy youngster of Marine Le Pen's National Rally, who led the far-right party to victory over the president's centrists. Emanuel Macron in the election on Sunday.
After being first elected as an MP in 2019, Bardella helped make the National Assembly more receptive by leading efforts to distance itself from its racist past by focusing on economic issues, immigration and criticism of the EU.
He is proud of his origins in the working class and rough suburbs of Paris, claiming he owes everything to his mother, who was an Italian immigrant, and Marine Le Pen.
On Sunday, Macron called snap parliamentary elections for later this month. If the far right won the majority of votes in those elections, Bardella would most likely be the candidate for prime minister.
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