[Jim Clancy:] Tonight, the great Brussels Backlash. Voters telling EU leaders they are sick and tired of the status quo. From chief executive to commander-in-chief. Ukraine turns a billionaire president. And drone is where the heart is. How unmanned aircraft can whisk you away on a virtual vacation. I'm Jim Clancy, and this is Clancy means business no, it's actually QUEST MEANS BUSINESS, but Richard is on assignment. Good evening everyone. Tonight, disgruntled Europeans have sent a message to Brussels. Voters across the EU moved to the political fringes to tell their leaders they want a dramatic overhaul of the single currency and the single market. The victors have claimed a mandate for government from within their countries.
[Alexis Tsipras, Syriza Part Leader:] The message must be received that there's a reason why euro skepticism exists. We must build a better Europe in order to deal with such euro skepticism. National elections must be called in a calm and organized manner as soon as possible.
[Clancy:] National politics in each country playing a leading role in these elections. In Greece, a revolt against bailout imposed austerity measures gave the far-left Syriza Party a lead over the country's two major parties. Greece has been in recession for six years, now. It has the highest level of unemployment in the entire eurozone. As Greece moved to the left, the UK and France lurched to the right. In Britain, the UK Independence Party took the greatest share of the vote. A poll conducted before the election showed UKIP voters want Britain to leave the EU and reduce immigration. They also express dissatisfaction with the major parties. Meantime in France, voters for Marine Le Pen's National Front Party also said they were unhappy with the country's traditional parties. The National Front wants France to leave the eurozone and impose new limits on immigration as well. Although centrist parties still command an overall majority, European leaders are worried about the shrinking center.
[Angela Merkel, Chancellor Of Germany:] Regarding the success of the populists and the far right, it's remarkable and regrettable, but we need to win back the voters, and that's also true for France. I believe that a path directed at competition, growth, and jobs, is the best answer to the disappointed voters who cast their ballots the way we all did not wish for.
[Clancy:] All right, let's get some perspective now. Karel Lannoo, the chief executive of the Centre for European Policy Studies, he joins us tonight from Brussels. How does Brussels react to this? Do they react?
[Karel Lannoo, Ceo, Centre For European Policy Studies:] Good evening.
[Clancy:] How does Brussels react?
[Lannoo:] It's important to say, tomorrow night we have the leaders, which will meet here. No, it's too early to say. But what I heard was a lot of concern, of course, at this stage, because we have about one in every seven members of the European parliament which is coming from a europhobe or a euro skeptic party. And of course, there is concern what impact this will have. But of course, it's early. It's only one day after elections, and tomorrow night, the leaders will meet here to elect or to discuss a possible next Commission president. And the big question is, how will they take into account this result? On the one hand, let's say they have said people take the leader from the largest party in the European parliament to eventually become the head of the European Commission, but this is not entirely sure, because the main parties' support have come down. Whereas, of course, as you heard, the euro skeptic parties have increased. So, probably, they have to do, as you were saying, much more than only discuss the election of a next Commission president, they have to think about an overhaul about the way in which Brussels is being run.
[Clancy:] It's not only about the direction, it's about the message as well. It has already been said by President Hollande, for instance, that we're going to make jobs, we're going to make growth a priority. But they've been saying that for how long now? Do the voters still believe them?
[Lannoo:] Exactly. Exactly. Hollande has been saying this two years ago before he was elected, and he was elected on a kind of a pact for growth. But he didn't do too much about this. On the contrary, you see the new incoming prime minister of France going for, again, another form of austerity in France. And we don't see, for example, the French economy reacting positively to that. Apparently, we still need to find, really, the recipe to overcome this crisis, at least in a few European countries.
[Clancy:] I'm going to ask you to look into your crystal ball a little bit here, Karel. How do these fringe parties across Europe, from the left and from the right, the euro skeptics, how do they play their cards during all of the controversial issues that are going to come up? What does this mean for the European parliament?
[Lannoo:] Difficult to say, again, because the main thing is will these euro skeptic groups become a fraction in European party? But if you look at them, they represent fairly different agendas. If you compare UKIP from the Front National, to the PVV in the Netherlands or to the Danish Folkeparti, or if you compare it to the extreme lift, as you were mentioning, in Greece, they all are elected on a somewhat different ticket. So, the question whether they will be capable to exercising some force on the European agenda will depend on the degree to which they will hang together. However, we have seen and it has been widely in the media, Nigel Farage, when he was already for UKIP the last five years in European parliament, making a lot of use of seat in the European parliament to make publicity against Europe, and to use it to come out with all forms of slogans on whatever political leader, whatever European policy. So, it shouldn't be underestimated even if they were not capable to organize themselves, the damage they could do to Europe and to further undermine the European project. However, this could then lead to a reaction from the main parties to strengthen themselves and to kind of get out with a better European agenda and to do, probably, something about this growth agenda, which Europe desperately needs. But
[Clancy:] It
[Lannoo:] the thing is, what has been surprising, according to me, in this election campaign before the European elections is that there was only in campaign against Europe. There was very little of a campaign in favor of Europe.
[Clancy:] Interesting times lie straight ahead. Karel Lannoo, I want to thank you very much for being with us and lending your expertise. Meantime, stocks in Europe closing a bit higher as investors reacted to these elections in the EU and in Ukraine. In Frankfurt, the Xetra DAX hit a record high, helped by Daimler and BMW shares. Shares in Milan boosted by a rise in Italian bank stocks. Exchanges in New York and London closed this day. Meantime in France, the question isn't whether the election victors want to stay in the EU, it's whether they want to abolish it altogether. Voters in France have been shocked by the strong support for the National Front. They are now very divided on what it means for the European project as a whole.
[Unidentified Male:] I think it's more a vote of revolt on behalf of the French, and that's a pity, because people do not necessarily measure the consequences of what that can have. We must be able to have a system of federations, states that are united, and one day go towards what the US did. There's no European project anymore, which is clearly explained to the Europeans. People retreat into themselves and no longer think clearly because they do not understand what Europe is. Nothing will change yesterday's elections. It's not a disaster. But it is a message that regardless, European leaders will now have to take into account.
[Clancy:] And joining me now from Paris, Christian Malard, an international diplomatic consultant. Christian, good evening to you. What do the voters
[Christian Malard, International Diplomatic Consultant:] Good evening, Jim.
[Clancy:] What message did the voters send to President Hollande?
[Malard:] Well, we have two messages, Jim, here. First, I think when they voted better than expected for Madame Le Pen and the extreme right Front National, I think the French had two messages. One for Europe, because they are a bit afraid or a bit fed up, too, with what they call heavy bureaucracy, technocracy in Brussels. But the main message which has been sent, conveyed, has been to President Hollande. Two months after a disaster already in the last regional and municipal elections, they delivered another same kind of message to him and saying we don't trust your politics, you need to change drastically your economic policy to have unemployment the rate of unemployment slow down. We need to create jobs in this country. This is the key message. Mr. Hollande has been promising, making a lot of promises. He has never been held. And tonight, on television, when the French listened to him saying we need to reform Europe, we need to reorient Europe, and I think the French people who voted for Madame Le Pen are among whom many employees 43 percent of the workers in France voted for the extreme right. It's just amazing. Tonight, the message is, instead of reforming Europe or reorienting Europe, Mr. President, first you should reform yourself, reorient yourself, reorient your government. This is the kind of message people would address him, would send him tonight after what they have listened to him on television.
[Clancy:] Is there really a belief, Christian, that jettisoning the EU is somehow going to jettison France's economic woes?
[Malard:] Well, the problem is we have never explained what about Europe properly in this country. There was no interest, really, in Europe. And when you have Madame Le Pen trying to make her electorate believe that we could get out of the euro currency system, I think it's a tragic joke. I think we cannot believe that. And some people think we should get out of Europe, but I think our future is still in Europe, and the French have to bear that in mind. Madame Le Pen has promised a lot of things also, but she is not the one who has the key or the solutions to our main problem. So, France right now has no good power, no good president, no good government. The right-wing traditional government, which is the UMP, is entangled in big political financial scandals, and Madame Le Pen is promising the moon, and she will never be able to deliver the moon.
[Clancy:] Christian Malard, laying it on the line, live from Paris tonight. Christian, as always, great to have you with us. And coming up straight ahead
[Malard:] Thank you.
[Clancy:] Ukrainians speaking out. The country has voted a new president into office. We're going to have a look at what lies ahead as the nation tries tries to move forward.