February 17, 2025

Athens News

News in English from Greece

Important elections in the new year that will determine the future of Europe


The 2025 elections have the potential to cause major political changes in Europe. Among them are early elections to the Bundestag in Germany, a referendum in Poland, the election of the President of Romania and others. About upcoming events.

The past year was marked by the return of Donald Trump to the presidency, the re-election of Narendra Modi as Prime Minister of India, and the strengthening of right-wing parties in the elections EU. This year, predicts BB.LV, unexpected surprises are also possible.

Germany: snap parliamentary elections

Last December, the German Bundestag passed a vote of no confidence in Chancellor Olaf Scholz, and snap elections will be held in the country on February 23, 2025.

At the height of the election campaign there was Christmas market attack Magdeburg. The main suspect is a doctor, a refugee from Saudi Arabia. Interior Minister Nancy Feser said the attacker had Islamophobic views and expressed support for the AfD party. The incident led to increased anti-migrant sentiment, especially in the eastern regions of Germany.

According to the latest INSA poll, the AfD has approximately 20.5% of the vote. The far right is inferior to the center-right CDU/CSU bloc (32%), which has benefited politically from the collapse of the SPD-Greens-FDP government coalition. Friedrich Merz, leader of the Christian Democratic Union, is tipped for the post of chancellor. He is a supporter of more liberal measures in the economy than, for example, Merkel, but is more conservative on social issues, including migration.

Mertz's career took off during the reign of Helmut Kohl, he advocates for a more integrated Europe: he wants to strengthen relations with France and Poland, criticizes Europe's dependence on the United States and calls for sending Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.

Romania: presidential elections

Romanian citizens will head to the polls again in 2025 after the Constitutional Court annulled the results of the first round of the presidential election. The judges based their decision on concerns about foreign interference in the election, with centrist pro-European candidate Elena Lasconi and far-right pro-Russian candidate Calin Georgescu advancing to the second round of voting.

Many attribute the latter’s unexpected success to the sharp rise in his popularity on social networks and a support campaign on TikTok. Romanian intelligence services are talking about the Kremlin's trace. The European Commission has launched formal proceedings against TikTok over its compliance with the Digital Services Act, which will provide a better understanding of how the platform's algorithms work during elections.

Poland: presidential elections

The upcoming presidential elections in Poland in May are a test of strength for Tusk's cabinet. Analysts view them as a referendum on the issue of confidence in the Tusk government, which has been in power since December 2023 and unites various parties – from the left to the center-right.

Although it is the prime minister who carries out the main functions of the day-to-day government of the country, the president still plays an important role. Andrzej Duda from the opposition Law and Justice party took this post long before Tusk's return and has repeatedly used his veto power to block government initiatives.

The leaders of the presidential race today are representatives of the two main parties: the mayor of Warsaw from the Civic Platform, Rafal Trzaskowski, and the historian from Law and Justice, Karol Nawrocki. The fight is expected to be intense; polls so far predict victory for the Civic Platform candidate.

Italy: local elections

The stability of the Meloni government depends on them. She faces an important test in September as elections are held in six Italian regions – Puglia, Campania, Le Marche, Tuscany, Valle d'Aosta and Venice. They will show whether Italians are satisfied with the work of a stable government by local standards. Last November, center-right candidates were defeated by the center-left in regional elections in Emilia-Romagna and Umbria. This is clearly an unfortunate outcome for Meloni.

Political scientists are closely monitoring the situation in the Venice region, given the long history there of rule by the populist League, a key political force in the ruling coalition.

Czech Republic: strengthening the “axis of Euroscepticism” in Central Europe(?)

Parliamentary elections will be held in the Czech Republic in October. The latest polls give ANO (which, together with the Patriots, is part of the European Parliament), led by populist Andrej Babis, 34.5% of the vote. That's much more than conservative Prime Minister Petr Fiala's Civic Democratic Party (CDP) is projected to get, which is expected to get 13.7%. It is followed by the center-right National Party with 11%.

A victory for Babis would strengthen the “far-right axis” in Central Europe, made up of Hungary's Viktor Orban and Slovakia's Robert Fico. The former billionaire prime minister has been called the “Czech Trump.” While supporting a tightening of migration policies, he also opposes the country's integration into the European Union and is very favorable towards Russia. Many fear an attack on democracy in the Czech Republic if he returns to power.

Croatia: presidential elections

There is a prospect of re-election of a “nationalist”, an opponent of aid to Ukraine, on January 12, when the Croats will elect the president of the republic. Zoran Milanovic, the current head of state, is aiming for a second term. He is nominated as an independent candidate, but is supported by a coalition led by the Social Democratic Party (SDP).

Last April, Milanovic unexpectedly decided to run in the parliamentary elections at the head of the SDP list in Zagreb. His candidacy was rejected by the Constitutional Court.

The president calls himself a “nationalist” and opposes aid to Ukraine and the participation of Croatian soldiers in the NATO mission to train Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers. He is leading with 37.4% in the polls, ahead of Andrej Plenkovic (20.8%) – a candidate supported by the prime minister's party, the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), which sits with the European People's Party (EPP) in the European Parliament and advocates strengthening Croatia's ties with Western allies.

United Kingdom: Labour's test

On May 1, the UK will hold elections to English county councils. The vote will be an important test for Labor, which returned to power after Keir Starmer became prime minister after last July's election.

Polls show both Labor and the Conservatives are below 20%, a historically low level of support for either party. At the same time, Reform the United Kingdom – Nigel Farage's populist party – is only five points behind them.

Belarus: elections without opposition and alternatives

The 2020 presidential election in Belarus was marred by widespread fraud, brutal repression of opposition figures, and a violent crackdown on protests challenging the results.

The results of the elections, in which, according to Alexander Lukashenko, he won with 80% of the votes, were not recognized by the European Union and other countries. Since then, according to the Belarusian human rights group Viasna, more than 50,000 people have been arrested for one political reason or another.

The next elections are scheduled for January 26, and experts say they are unlikely to change anything. Lukashenko has already warned that he will cut off Internet access for Belarusians if protests similar to those that occurred in 2020 break out during the voting or after. The state news outlet Belta reported this in November.

Russia: by-elections to the State Duma

This September in the Russian Federation there will be additional elections to the State Duma and heads of 18 regions, elections to local authorities in various areas. Experts say that widespread practices of preventing observers from entering polling stations, stuffing ballots, and large-scale falsification of voting results are expected.

Norway: Parliamentary elections with possible shift to the right

On September 8, Norway will hold elections that will determine the composition of the 169-seat Storting and indicate likely contenders for the post of prime minister. It is currently held by Jonas Gahr Støre, leader of the center-left Labor Party.

As in other European countries, recent polls show a shift towards right-wing parties. The Progress Party, which promotes a far-right agenda, is expected to double its 10% share of the vote it had in 2021. Close on their heels is the center-right Conservative Party, led by former Prime Minister Erna Solberg.

Ireland: who will replace the “long-living president”

In November 2025, Irish people will go to the polls to elect a new president to succeed Michael Higgins, who has held office for the past 14 years. The role of the President in this country is more ceremonial, but he has important constitutional responsibilities – signing bills and representing Ireland on the world stage.

So far, no candidate has officially announced his participation in the presidential race. The Irish media The Journal speculates about possible contenders. These are former European Commissioner Mairead McGuinness and former MEP Frances Fitzgerald – both from the centre-right Fine Gael party.

Georgia: local elections

Local elections will be held in Georgia in October 2025, a year after the parliamentary elections, which were won by the pro-Russian Georgian Dream party. The new government's decision to postpone EU accession negotiations until 2028 has caused waves mass protests in Tbilisi and other cities throughout the country.

Georgia received candidate status for EU membership in December 2023. But Brussels, dissatisfied with the adopted law “On Transparency of Foreign Influence”, which is considered an analogue of the Russian law on “foreign agents”, stopped this process.

On December 29, the term of office of pro-European President Salome Zurabishvili ended, who was replaced by pro-Russian politician Mikheil Kavelashvili. He was elected on December 14 by parliament, in which Georgian Dream has a majority. The opposition boycotted the vote. Anti-government protests continue.

Moldova: supporters of European integration and pro-Russian political forces

Moldova faces attempts at Russian interference through a disinformation campaign. In the recent referendum on joining the European Union, supporters of European integration won by a small margin, gaining only 50.35%. Pro-European President Maia Sandu was re-elected in the second round of voting.

The presidential party PAS is preparing for parliamentary elections in 2025. If it fails to take the majority, then it will face a tense confrontation with other political forces, not all of which are in favor of the republic’s membership in the EU. For Maia Sandu, these elections will be the “last battle” on the European path of Moldova, a country in which the pro-Russian opposition is still strong.



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