Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte described last week’s election as the “quarter finals to beat the wrong sort of populism”. The forthcoming French presidential election will be the semi-final, and the German election the final, he said. While those matches seem likely to be victories for the europhiles, the competition will be much more challenging in Italy. Mr Rutte ignored the wildcard – Italy – where an election is due by May 2018. And an election might come even sooner. Granted, we do not know what the electoral system will be, so it is difficult to know how party support will translate to seats in Parliament. But based on current polls, our best guess is that eurosceptic parties might win about half of the seats.
Become a client to read more
This is premium content that requires an active Capital Economics subscription to view.
Already have an account?
You may already have access to this premium content as part of a paid subscription.
Sign in to read the content in full or get details of how you can access it
Register for free
Sign up for a free account to:
- Unlock additional content
- Register for Capital Economics events
- Receive email updates and economist-curated newsletters
- Request a free trial of our services