Brussels - Far-right parties made significant gains in a number of
European Union countries as the
recession stoked anti-immigration feelings. The
economic crisis, and a parliamentary expenses' scandal in Britain, also fostered eurosceptic movements in several member states.
But preliminary results suggested that Brussels' fiercest critic, Libertas leader Declan Ganley, would fail to gain a seat in the European Parliament on behalf of his native Ireland.
Ganley had spearheaded a successful campaign against the EU's reforming Lisbon Treaty in last year's Irish referendum.
The new man on the rightwing fringe of European politics is Geert Wilders, whose anti-Islamic Freedom Party (PVV) become the second-largest party in the Netherlands.
Known for his controversial "Fitna" documentary, which decried
Islam as backward, Wilders will now send four lawmakers to the European Parliament.
In Austria, eurosceptic and far-right movements made significant gains, winning collectively more than a third of votes cast for the European Parliament.
Anti-immigration parties also did well in
Denmark and Italy.
However, such gains were partly offset by heavy losses suffered by President Lech Kaczynski's eurosceptic party in Poland.
This left the Union for Europe of Nations, which groups nationalists in the European Parliament, with less seats than the 44 it held in the outgoing assembly.
The UEN is now expected to dissolve and form a new group with Britain's Conservative Party.
