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Speaker 1: Devin Gray are UK correspondents with US now even in

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Speaker 1: Gavin Hi, what do you reckon has caused the swing

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Speaker 1: to the right in the European elections?

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Speaker 2: Look, I think migration is a massive factor for many

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Speaker 2: in Europe. They've seen hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers

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Speaker 2: come across from Northern Africa, but also from other places

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Speaker 2: around the world where perhaps you wouldn't expect asylum seekers

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Speaker 2: to claim the need to move from. But I think

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Speaker 2: that's behind a lot of it. I think there's dissatisfaction

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Speaker 2: at the sort of way in which the EU Parliament

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Speaker 2: is operating, in the way it's run and what it's achieving.

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Speaker 2: It seemed by some to be rather sluggish in responding

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Speaker 2: to massive topics like immigration, but also cybersecurity, trade, the

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Speaker 2: response to the pandemic I don't think was particularly clever,

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Speaker 2: and so this has been a massive story. Overnight here

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Speaker 2: the four day vote came to an end. The big

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Speaker 2: headline comes from France, where the far right National Rally

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Speaker 2: Party really trounced Emmanuel Macron's party, the President's Party, with

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Speaker 2: more than double the number of votes to Marine La

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Speaker 2: Penn's National Rally, but also really the European Parliament now

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Speaker 2: see a big strengthening of the right wing center right parties,

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Speaker 2: with victories in Germany, Greece, poland Spain, big advances in

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Speaker 2: Hungary against the long dominant Victor Auburn, the Prime Minister.

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Speaker 2: There So the twenty seven countries all voting across these

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Speaker 2: four days at the center right will now command one

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Speaker 2: hundred and eighty four seats from the seven hundred and

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Speaker 2: twenty seat European Parliament. The far right the far right

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Speaker 2: didn't enjoy the big surge that had been predicted by some.

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Speaker 2: In the Netherlands, the anti Islam populist Geert Wilder's Freedom

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Speaker 2: Party came second, not first, but Germany's opposition Conservatives well

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Speaker 2: always going to come out top. They scored a thirty

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Speaker 2: percent of the vote, but the Chancellor Olaf Schultz's SED

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Speaker 2: Party had the worst ever result in a European election.

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Speaker 2: It came third behind the far right alternative Alternative for Germany,

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Speaker 2: the AfD party. In Spain, the center right opposition Popular

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Speaker 2: Party defeated the Prime Minister Georgia Maloney. In Italy, she

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Speaker 2: strengthened her hand with a very good vote for her,

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Speaker 2: and in Austria, the far right Freedom Party on course

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Speaker 2: for a narrow but unprecedented victory in the European vote.

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Speaker 2: Wherever you look, there are some surprising results. Perhaps not

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Speaker 2: the big night the far right wanted, but a very

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Speaker 2: good night for the center right and right wing generally.

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Speaker 1: Do you think mccran's making a mistake calling the snap election?

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Speaker 2: Well, I have to say he loves stealing a bit

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Speaker 2: of the Lime Knight in the European Union and amongst

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Speaker 2: European parliaments. So as you know, before the votes were counted,

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Speaker 2: he suddenly announced, with this idea that Marie Le Penn's

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Speaker 2: National Party was doing extremely well, that he would call

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Speaker 2: a snap election. Now it takes place. There are two

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Speaker 2: rounds of voting in France, the thirtieth of June the

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Speaker 2: seventh of July. And yes, you're right, that is just

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Speaker 2: a few days before the Paris Olympics. And it looks like,

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Speaker 2: I mean, his party was absolutely trounced. But is he

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Speaker 2: right to call an election. It's been a stunning surprise

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Speaker 2: for everyone. I mean, he could have just toughed it out.

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Speaker 2: He is still president for another couple of years, but

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Speaker 2: he has now lost his majority in the French Parliament.

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Speaker 2: He could have just tried to tough it out and

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Speaker 2: carry on. We've got the Euros coming, we've got the

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Speaker 2: Olympics coming. He would have been in the spotlight if

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Speaker 2: both go well for France, and spotlight for all the

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Speaker 2: good reasons. But he's taken this huge risk and now

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Speaker 2: faces well, frankly, getting things very very difficult to get

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Speaker 2: any bill through the National Assembly, already a struggle, but

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Speaker 2: now losing that majority. It really is an explosive, potentially

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Speaker 2: explosive decision to make, and who knows, perhaps in the

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Speaker 2: not too distant future we might see Prime Minister Marie

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Speaker 2: Lapen for the National Rally Party, the far right party

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Speaker 2: in France.

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Speaker 1: Very interesting stuff, Gavin, thank you so much, always appreciate it.

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Speaker 1: We'll chat you in a couple of days. It's Devin Gray,

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Speaker 1: our UK correspondent.

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