Far-right gains in EU elections deal stunning defeats to Macron and Scholz

Supporters of French far-right National Rally react at the party election night headquarters in Paris (Lewis Joly/AP)

Far-right parties have made such big gains at the European Union parliamentary elections that they dealt stunning defeats to two of the bloc’s most important leaders: French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

In France, the National Rally party of Marine Le Pen dominated the polls to such an extent that Mr Macron immediately dissolved the national parliament and called for new elections, a massive political risk since his party could suffer more losses, hobbling the rest of his presidential term that ends in 2027.