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Senior research fellow Camino Mortera-Martinez from the Centre for European Reform (CER) argues that while those ascendant political groups may not dominate Parliament, their presence will be felt as they apply pressure and complicate EU decision-making."Euroskeptics and populists are going to grow exponentially this time," she says. "You're going to have a much more divided Parliament. It's going to be more difficult to find compromises."

It's also an opportunity for remainers and leavers to express their frustrations, Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska, a senior research fellow at the CER, said in a statement."Prime Minister Theresa May's Conservatives, which had hoped to avoid holding these elections, are facing a drubbing at the hands of Nigel Farage's new Brexit Party," she noted, adding that parties pushing to prevent Brexit are "likely to perform well and keep up the pressure for another referendum on the UK's membership of the EU."

European Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said the measure appeared to be working.“Now we are in a situation where in 75 percent of queries there would be at least one rival to Google in the shopping box and 40 per cent of clicks would go to a merchant hosted by one of the rivals,” Vestager told reporters on the sidelines of a Centre for European Reform event. “This means we do not have a non-compliance case but at the same time also means that we keep monitoring monthly developments,” she added.

Ekspertka z think tanku Centre for European Reform Agata Gostyńska-Jakubowska upatruje przyczyn tej tendencji w tym, że główne siły polityczne w Europie niewiele różnią się w kluczowych kwestiach. "To powoduje, że dla wyborców coraz bardziej atrakcyjne stają się partie radykalne, nie tylko antyeuropejskie, lecz również proeuropejskie, oferujące odważne propozycje dla przyszłości projektu europejskiego" - powiedziała PAP analityczka.

"The biggest obstacle is the French government," said Camino Mortera-Martinez, a senior research fellow for EU justice and home affairs at the Centre for European Reform.

Indeed, that well-informed commentator on Europe, Charles Grant, reports in a bulletin from the Centre for European Reform entitled The Brussels View of Brexit that Michel Barnier, leader of the European commission’s negotiating team, is so exasperated, along with President Macron himself, that the French are now in the “we are better off without the British” camp. They wanted a short extension of the article 50 deadline because “the British would not work out what they wanted unless faced with the precipice of a no-deal exit”.