European political history of the 2020s
The history of Europe during the 2020s covers political events on the continent, other than elections, from 2020 to the present, culminating when the year 2029 ends.
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International events in Europe.
During the early 2020s, a major concern was the pandemic of Covid-19, and different concerns and restrictions, as countries sought ways to prevent or limit the spread of the disease.
The outcomes of European national elections varied, with shifts in political power and the emergence of new leaders. Issues such as immigration, economic policies (especially concerning with inflation), the invasion of Ukraine and its impacts played significant roles in shaping European political agendas. Populist movements continued to have an impact on European politics. Some countries like Italy, the Netherlands and Slovakia experienced the rise of populist leaders and parties.
History by country or other governmental entity.
Austria.
The Greens became a governing party for the first time in January 2020 as part of a coalition deal with the right-wing Austrian People's Party. On 6 October 2021, Austrian anti-corruption prosecutors conducted a raid on the offices of Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, the headquarters of the Austrian People's Party and the Federal Ministry of Finance. Kurz has been accused of embezzlement and bribery, along with nine high-profile politicians and newspaper executives. As a result of the raid, Kurz has sustained heavy criticism from his junior The Greens, as well as the opposition. On 9 October 2021, Kurz announced his resignation, with Alexander Schallenberg to serve as his replacement. As a result of the resignation, Kogler announced his intention to continue the governing coalition.
In the 2022 Austrian presidential election, incumbent Green president Van der Bellen was re-elected in the first round with 57% of the vote. Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) candidate Walter Rosenkranz placed second with 18% of the votes, a significant decline from the party's result in the 2016 presidential election.
Belarus.
Presidential election.
The 2020 Belarusian presidential election was held on Sunday, 9 August 2020. Early voting began on 4 August and ran until 8 August. Incumbent Alexander Lukashenko was reelected to the sixth term in office, with official results crediting him with 80% of the vote. Lukashenko has won every presidential election since 1994, with all but the first being labelled by international monitors as neither free nor fair.
Opposition candidate Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya claimed to have won a decisive first-round victory with at least 60% of the vote, and called on Lukashenko to start negotiations. Her campaign subsequently formed the Coordination Council to facilitate a transfer of power and stated that it was ready to organize "long-term protests" against the official results. All seven members of the Coordination Council Presidium were subsequently arrested or went into exile. Numerous countries refused to accept the result of the election, as did the European Union, which imposed sanctions on Belarusian officials deemed to be responsible for "violence, repression and election fraud".
Anti-government protests.
The largest anti-government protests in the history of Belarus began in the lead-up to and during the election. Initially moderate, the protests intensified nationwide after official election results were announced on the night of 10 August, in which Lukashenko was declared the winner. Following the forced landing of Ryanair Flight 4978 to arrest opposition activist and journalist Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend Sofia Sapega, the European Union agreed to ban EU-based airlines from flying through Belarusian airspace, to ban Belarusian carriers from flying into EU airspace, and to implement a fresh round of sanctions.
Border crisis.
The 2021 Belarus–European Union border crisis was a migrant crisis manifested in a massive influx of Middle Eastern and African migrants (mainly from Iraq) to Lithuania, Latvia, and Poland via those countries' borders with Belarus. The crisis was triggered by the severe deterioration in Belarus–European Union relations, following the 2020 Belarusian presidential election, the 2020–2021 Belarusian protests, the Ryanair Flight 4978 incident, and the attempted repatriation of Krystsina Tsimanouskaya. The three EU nations have described the crisis as hybrid warfare by human trafficking of migrants, waged by Belarus against the European Union, and called on Brussels to intervene.
Bulgaria.
Protests.
The 2020–2021 Bulgarian protests were a series of demonstrations held in Bulgaria, mainly in the capital Sofia, as well as cities with a large Bulgarian diaspora, such as Brussels, Paris, Madrid, Barcelona, Berlin and London. The protest movement was the culmination of long-standing grievances against endemic corruption and state capture, particularly associated with prime minister Boyko Borisov's governments, in power since 2009.
Elections.
Snap parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 11 July 2021 after no party was able or willing to form a government following the April 2021 elections. The populist party There Is Such a People (ITN), led by musician and television host Slavi Trifonov, narrowly won the most seats over a coalition of the conservative GERB and Union of Democratic Forces parties. ITN's success was propelled primarily by young voters.
The 2022 Bulgarian parliamentary election was won by the conservative GERB with 25.3% of the vote. We Continue the Change (PP) came in second with 20.2% of the vote. Support for the far-right and ultranationalist Revival party significantly increased from 4.9% to 10.2%. It was the country's fourth general election in two years, after the collapse of the government led by Kiril Petkov in June.
Croatia.
In the 2020 Croatian parliamentary election, the conservative Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) emerged as the winner, securing the most seats in the parliament. The HDZ, led by Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, won 66 out of 151 seats in the Croatian Parliament, solidifying its position as the ruling party. The Social Democratic Party (SDP), the main opposition, trailed behind with 41 seats. Turnout was lower than in the last election, 46.3 percent compared to 52.6 percent in 2016. Following the election, the HDZ successfully negotiated a coalition with smaller parties, including the Croatian People's Party (HNS), ensuring a parliamentary majority. The election addressed national issues, including economic recovery, healthcare reform, anti-corruption measures, and responses to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Czech Republic.
In the 2021 Czech parliamentary election voters elected the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Republic. The three-party, center-right SPOLU coalition narrowly won the election with 27.8% of the vote. The populist ANO party of Prime Minister Andrej Babiš suffered a surprise defeat with 27.1% of the vote. The liberal Pirates and Mayors (PirStan) electoral coalition came third with 15.6%. Right-wing Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) came fourth with 9.5%. The Social Democrats and the Communists, two of the ANO-led coalition government partners failed to reach the 5 percent threshold required to enter parliament. After the results, SPOLU and PirStan signed a memorandum to form a coalition government with Petr Fiala as prime minister.
In the 2023 Czech presidential election, retired general Petr Pavel defeated former prime minister and businessman Andrej Babiš with over 58% of the popular vote in the second round. Petr Pavel, former chair of the NATO Military Committee, ran as an independent on a pro-Western, pro-European platform, and was backed by the centre-right governing alliance Spolu. He won the first round of the election with 35.40% of the popular vote, ahead of Andrej Babiš, the former Czech prime minister running as the candidate of populist ANO 2011, who finished second with 34.99%. Voter turnout in the second round was a little above 70%, the highest in a direct Czech presidential election and the highest in any national Czech election since 1998.
Cyprus.
The 2021 Cypriot legislative election was won by the Democratic Rally, a Christian-democratic party. The party won 27.77% of the popular vote, taking 17 seats in the parliament and remaining the party with the largest representation. The left-wing Progressive Party of Working People came in second place with 22.34% of the vote and 15 seats in parliament. ELAM, an anti-migrant nationalist party, almost doubled its vote share compared to the 2016 election to about 6.8% of the vote, placing it fourth in voter preferences.
In the 2023 Cypriot presidential election, centrist Nikos Christodoulides was elected President of Cyprus with 51.97% of the vote against left-wing Andreas Mavroyiannis with 48.03% on the second round.
Denmark.
In the 2022 Danish general election, the governing Social Democrats achieved their best result in 20 years, with 28% of the vote. Leading opposition party Venstre suffered major losses in the election, losing 20 seats in parliament. Two new parties standing in the elections, the Moderates and the Denmark Democrats, won 16 and 14 seats respectively, making them the third- and fifth-largest parties. The Social Liberals experienced one of their worst ever results with 7 seats in parliament from 16 in the last election. After negotiations, a coalition government composed of the Social Democrats, Venstre and the Moderates was formed, the first time since 1977 where both main parties were part of a coalition government.
Estonia.
Kaja Kallas became the first female prime minister after the previous government fell after a corruption scandal.
In the 2023 Estonian parliamentary election incumbent Prime Minister Kaja Kallas' center-right Reform Party was the clear winner with 31.2% of the vote and 37 seats in the Riigikogu. In second place, the right-wing eurosceptic EKRE party won 16.1 percent of the vote. Support for the Centre Party, traditionally supported by Estonia's ethnic-Russian minority, fell to 14.7 percent from 23.1 percent in the last election. The biggest surprise of the election was the emergence of Estonia 200, a centrist liberal pro-EU party and a parliament newcomer following the election. It won 13.3% of the vote and 14 seats in the Riigikogu.
Finland.
The government of Prime Minister Sanna Marin fell following the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election. after her center-left Social Democratic Party (SDP) was narrowly defeated into third place in the 2023 Finnish parliamentary election by conservative and far-right challengers. The pro-business NCP gained 48 of the 200 parliamentary seats, narrowly defeating Marin's Social Democrats with 43 seats and the nationalist Finns Party with 46 seats.
Following the election, a new right wing coalition government was formed by Petteri Orpo. with the Finns Party and two additional small parties: the Swedish People's Party and the Christian Democrats.
France.
Islamism.
The murder of Samuel Paty reignited the controversy surrounding depictions of Muhammad, and was followed by the 2020 Nice stabbing committed by another jihadist, as well as a far-right attack in Avignon on the same day. Before the attacks, the Charlie Hebdo depiction had been republished on September 1, and the trial over the Charlie Hebdo shooting in 2015 had begun on September 2. There had also been a second attack on Charlie Hebdo's former headquarters in Paris on September 25, and on October 2, President Emmanuel Macron had called Islam a 'religion in crisis'. Following Macron's remarks, the Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan suggested he needed "mental treatment", leading France to withdraw its ambassador. Saudi Arabia and Iran condemned France, while tens of thousands marched against in protest in Bangladesh. The French government demanded that the representative body for the religion in the country accept a 'charter of republican values', rejecting political Islam and foreign interference, as well as establishing a system of official licenses for imams. Overseas, the French military intervention in the Sahel continued fighting against the Islamic State in the Greater Sahara.
AUKUS reaction.
On 17 September 2021, Macron and his foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian recalled the French ambassadors to the U.S. and Australia after the formation of the AUKUS defense technology between the U.S., Australia, and UK (from which France was excluded). As part of the 2021 security agreement, the U.S. decided to provide nuclear-powered submarines to Australia, to counter China in the Pacific and Indo-Pacific region, and Australia canceled a US$66 billion (A$billion) deal from 2016 to purchase twelve French-built conventionally powered (diesel) submarines. The French government was furious at the cancellation of the submarine agreement and said that it had been blindsided, calling the decision a 'stab in the back'. On September 22, Biden and Macron pledged to improve the relationship between the two countries.
2022 presidential election.
In the 2022 French presidential election, Emmanuel Macron was re-elected as the president of France, the first sitting French president to have been so in 20 years. In the second round of voting, Macron, a centrist, secured 58.5% of the vote over the nationalist-populist Marine Le Pen.
In the first round of voting, Macron led by a margin of about four percentage points over Le Pen. In the first round of the 2017 election, Macron was ahead of Le Pen by just three percentage points. Far-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon