Seems as if things became a bit heated along the line here today. Watching what has happened all over Europe, it sometimes seems to be forgotten that the elections took place in countries other than just UK and France, there have been protests aimed at respective governments. President Francois Hollande who seems to be trying to win the prize for the most unpopular leader on record received a right kicking. Yet where did the votes go? There was a detailed list of candidates and the votes cast for them in the newspaper that covers the south west. The FN did not benefit greatly and the small parties such as Abertzaleen Batasunahe the Basque Nationalist party received no votes at all. In the lead up to the election the ex-President Sarkosy was calling for a less centralized EU, with powers being returned to national governments. His message was heard as many people returned to the UMP party candidates. One again it was the large cities where there are many problems who voted for the FN, yet strangely UKIP made little headway in London.
The anti-Eu parties who have been elected still form a small group in the parliament, but if they bother to turn up and vote they could create some changes. Yes they have been elected and do have to speak for the electors who sent them there. The feeling here is that the FN will have far larger problems trying to act as a mainstream party than they did while they simply turned up enough to claim the allowance and put out anti EU propaganda. I guess progress will be slow, but changes will come about because mainstream politicians realize that people vote against what happens in their country, not for the much larger picture of what happens in Europe.