Abstract :
LAST MONTH´S European elections were the most interesting in a generation, but not perhaps in the way that Europe´s federal founders would have imagined. It marked a rise of competition not within the system, but between insiders and outsiders. A lot of people who don´t like the European parliament were elected to the European parliament. In the UK, Ukip (the UK Independence Party) got 27 per cent of the vote, topping the poll. But in France, Italy, Denmark, Austria and Hungary, populist, Eurosceptic parties also did well. The indications are, though, that their supporters are not primarily motivated by a dislike of European institutions. In the UK a recent survey by YouGov suggests that both the general public and the average Ukip voter prioritise immigration over ´Europe´ by quite a margin, both in terms of how important it is for the country and how important for them.
