Alexander Smith is a senior reporter for NBC News Digital based in London.
LONDON — With the far-right surging in Europe, France’s leader has taken a colossal gamble to try to halt its ascendency. French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday that he was “confident” his countrymen would “make the right choice” after stunning the nation by calling a snap election. He may hope to stop the far-right in its tracks.
The center-right won in Germany and did well enough elsewhere to increase their general dominance of Europe’s legislature. Meanwhile the center-left bloc largely held firm. “We are the anchor of stability,” Ursula von der Leyen, president of the E.U. Commission, told supporters of her center-right group in Brussels. “This is a great message to all of us.” Scandinavia bucked the trend of rightwing gains, with populists losing ground in Sweden, Denmark and Finland.
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