Watch the interview to hear viewpoints from two different countries, Italy and Poland, about why Italy’s League Party scored so high and why the Law and Justice Party in Poland did so well.
We’re back with two of our reporters to discuss what they've discovered for Insiders Unreported Europe - Euronews' current affairs magazine. Valerie Gauriat is back from Italy and Damon Embling has returned from Poland.
For the past six months, we’ve travelled to Europe’s frontlines talking to citizens about their hopes and fears for the future as the European elections were drawing near. Now a month after the poll, we’re back to talk about its main takeaways, namely gains for the greens and the strengthening of anti-immigrant far-right parties.
On Matteo Salvini's League Party's high score during the European election, was it due to a very strong anti-immigrant sentiment or due to the economy?
Valerie Gauriat said, “Well the anti-immigrant sentiment has of course been a very strong component but it’s indeed not the only one. On immigration, many Salvini supporters have told us that it’s not so much the immigrants they’re angry about but the way politicians, whether at the national or European level, have dealt with them."
In Poland, the Law and Justice Party (PiS) scored really well in the European elections.
Damon Embling said "The PiS party, as they’re known in Poland, has had a strong following for some time now and they very much paint the EU elections as a battle against liberal ideals in the west a threat to Polish traditional way of life. Poland, of course, is a very staunch Catholic country so the PiS has won support around that and things like immigration have also been a big issue in Poland.
Click on the player above to watch the full interviews with our reporters.