[Hala Gorani, Cnn Anchor:] Hello, everyone. I'm Hala Gorani live in Brussels with special coverage of the European parliamentary election. Polls are closing today across the continent in this decisive election that will shape the future of the European Union. More than 400 million people from 28 countries were eligible to cast their ballots this go around. Many E.U. countries saw a particularly strong voter turnout, which is unusual normally for European elections, up from the last election five years ago in 2014. Exit polls have been trickling in over the past couple of hours. In Germany, the Greens celebrated some big gains. We're keeping an especially close eye on how populist and in some cases anti-E.U. parties are doing because they're expected to do well this time around. We are expecting exit polls from France, Denmark, and Spain. Now, just to set the scene for you, here's a look at how parliament looked before these elections. The makeup is already changing. We'll get an update and look at these seats coming up in the next 15 minutes. And the big question is, will these establishment parties, these pro-E.U. parties, maintain their majority or will they be threatened by the populous, the far-right and the anti-E.U.? We have more reporters stationed around Europe to cover these decisive elections. Melissa Bell is in Paris. Atika Shubert is live in Berlin. We start with Erin McLaughlin at E.U. headquarters in Brussels. Erin, talk to me about early exit polls. What do they tell us?
[Erin Mclaughlin, Cnn Correspondent:] Yes, Hala. Well, here at the election headquarters, parliament has just released the figures for voter turnout and those figures show a turnout that's the highest in at least 20 years. And this is a big deal because ever since the E.U. has first held the European elections in 1979, voter turnout has steadily declined 42 percent in 2014, but we've seen a spike in 2019 to 51 percent for 27 E.U. countries. The 51 percent voter turnout figure excluding the U.K., if you include the U.K., that figure is at 49 percent to 52 percent. So this is seen as an indicator of the overall health of the European project and it's a good sign for pro-E.U. officials. Now, other trends we've been seeing based on the first national estimates released for six countries, Germany, Austria, Ireland, the Netherlands, Cyprus, and Malta, big gains for the Greens. Now, the Green Party is all about climate change. They have the very pro-E.U. stance. They're pro-humane migration policy as well. Their scene is very attractive party to the youth vote. In Germany, they're up 22 percent taking second place behind Angela Merkel's party. They've gone from 13 seats in 2014, according to these preliminary estimates, to 23 seats. In 2019, Greens also making gains in the Netherlands, increasing one seat, and in Ireland going from zero seats to two seats. Now, all eyes also on the Euro-skeptic parties here in the E.U. showing Euro-skeptics losing ground in Germany, losing ground in Austria, and holding firm with the same number of seats they had in 2014 in the Netherlands. Hala?
[Gorani:] All right. Erin, we're just actually starting to digest some of these exit polls coming from France, because Melissa Bell who's in Paris, you can add to this, obviously. The big battle here is between Marine Le Pen's new rebranded National Front, the RN. And Emmanuel Macron has really put a stake into this election. He made it personal, Melissa. And according to exit polls, it seems as though they're neck and neck, but Marine Le Pen's party is ahead. That cannot be good for the French President.
[Melissa Bell, Cnn Paris Correspondent:] Hala, it was a crucial test, one in which both Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron had invested an awful lot of time in political capital and energy. Because here in France, of course, we're talking about a political landscape that was entirely redrawn, you remember Hala in 2017. So on one hand, an untested political force electoral since Emmanuel Macron's La Republique En Marche Party, and on the other, as you say that rebranded party of Marine Le Pen. And it was this battle that was going to allow us after all of these months of
[Gorina:] All right. And Atika Shubert in Berlin, talk to us about what you're hearing in Germany, the Greens. And this is something we'll be discussing with my next guest, by the way, but the environmental parties are doing extremely well. They have a clear message on Europe and it appears to me, looking at some of these exit polls early days, but it appears to me as the other parties with clear messages on Europe, whether it's anti or pro, have done quite well. Talk to us about what the Greens what their performance is like in Germany.
[Atira Shubert, Cnn Senior International Correspondent:] Absolutely. I mean the story of the night for Germany is this Green surge coming in at more than 20 percent. That's a huge win for them, gaining by 11 percentage points. The only the other big party that gained was actually the far-right of the AFD.
[Shubert:] They did gain 3 percentage points. However, they actually did less well than they did in the national election, so that is a disappointment for the far-right populous. The big losers, however, are those establishment parties, the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats. They lost quite a few of votes, 7 you know, 7 percentage points for the CDU losing and 12 percentage points for the Social Democrats. Even though the so the Christian Democrats do reach got the most votes overall, it clearly shows that voters are not happy with the performance of those big centrist parties. They voted far more to the fringes. But, again, it's the Greens that really took it here and it's probably because of a youth vote. What we saw was a lot of first-time voters coming out and they overwhelmingly seemed to vote for the Greens Party. And we actually spoke to a number of climate change activists, they really made a big push. The Fridays for future protest just before the vote saying this election is the climate election and they do seem to have mobilized a lot of voters, Hala.
[Gorina:] All right. Melissa, Atika and Erin, standby, we'll get back to you very soon. Germany's Greens Party, as we were discussing there with Atika, celebrating some big gains in this European election. They say today was a Sunday for the future. They are vowing to be the voice of the climate movement in parliament. It's not just about the environment, though, if you're with the Greens, it's also about what it means for Europe. And that's what this election is about in many ways. Philippe Lamberts joins me now. He's the President of the European Greens. He's a Belgian member of the European Parliament. First of all, you're quite happy with the performance of your party.
[Philippe Lamberts, European Parliament, Greens Party:] You bet I am.
[Gorina:] Yes.
[Lamberts:] You bet I am.
[Gorina:] Why do you think they did so well?
[Lamberts:] Because I think increasingly the Green Parties are perceived as parties that have comprehensive responses to the challenges of this century. We used to be seen as French Parties or Niche Parties. But in countries like Germany, like the Benelux, like France, et cetera, we are increasingly seen as parties who basically can govern. And that is the result of 40 years' work and that means being strong on the environment, of course, strong on economic and social policies, strong on civil liberties and democracy, and in a very pro-European stance. That must be very clear for everyone. We are committed to the deepening of the European project.
[Gorina:] Now, those parties that also did well according to these exit polls are the anti-E.U. parties that have very clear anti-E.U. messages, whether it's Marine Le Pen's RN in France or other populist movements across Europe. What do you make of that?
[Lamberts:] Well, that indeed, there's a choice to be made. Either it's to retrieve behind nationalist attitudes and borders or it's embracing the European Union as the leader that we have to reconquer sovereignty. Because what they they speak a lot about sovereignty. But what is sovereignty? It's the ability to make the choices that shape your future. And we say, as Europeans, the only way to do that is together. And that resonates with many voters. So, now, the next five years will be decided either we can shift the European policies in a way that gets wider acceptance by our fellow citizens or the national populist will win next time.
[Gorina:] Now, here's my question. You are going to be taking your seat in a parliament. There are 751 seats that will be less when the U.K. leaves the E.U., but right its 751.
[Lamberts:] Yes.
[Gorina:] Were you're going to have probably a record number of very anti-E.U. MEPs
[Lamberts:] Absolutely.
[Gorina:] who ran in order to get into that building behind us to spread an anti-E.U. message? What is this going to do to this parliament?
[Lamberts:] Well, actually, it will it may be a blessing in disguise. In a way, that's what Archimedes once said, give me a lever and an anchor point and I will lift the world. Well, actually, the two big parties, Social Democrats, CBP, no longer have a majority between them. They will need pro-European partners to gather a stable majority in the parliament. They might end up needing the Greens. And if they need us, we are going to leverage the power that our citizens gave us to really enact change in E.U. policy for the next five years.
[Gorina:] Currently you have 52 seats?
[Lamberts:] Fifty-two, and we are, I think, going for 70 also.
[Gorina:] Now, again, as we were saying, this is the big contest, this election, between the establishment and the smaller parties. This appears to be a big win for the smaller parties.
[Lamberts:] I agree. I agree in a way I think that people no longer feel owned by the big parties.
[Gorina:] Yes.
[Lamberts:] So their loyalty is more shifting
[Gorina:] Yes.
[Lamberts:] to places. So basically you have to earn that trust much more than before. You know, back in time, people were voting socialist from father to son. This is not over.
[Gorina:] Yes.
[Lamberts:] So you have to earn them and that's building trust takes time. And this is why maybe it's only now that you see 20 plus results for the Greens. We've been around for 40 years.
[Gorina:] And that yes. And I was going to say, sorry to jump in
[Lamberts:] Yes.
[Gorina:] the Greens did well in France as well. But the socialists that you mentioned, this is an establishment party that for decades as you were saying
[Lamberts:] Yes.
[Gorina:] made big scores or achieved big scores.
[Lamberts:] Yes.
[Gorina:] The projections are 7 percent in France.
[Lamberts:] Yes.
[Gorina:] It's the disintegration of the socialists.
[Lamberts:] Yes. But the best way to lose the trust of the people is not to know what you want to do. And the socialists in France have been formed by disputes about what they wanted to do. Did they want to be a socialist party? Did they want to be a Neoliberal Party in disguise? Did they want to be a national a Nationalist Party like Manuel Valls in disguise? They didn't know what to do. That's the best way to lose the trust of the people.
[Gorina:] So it's a bit of an alphabet soup all these acronyms for parties and this parliament behind this. What we're going to try to do over the next hour is explain to our viewers essentially the big trends, because it's about big trends, this election. It's about the establishment parties. It's about parties like yours doing better than expected. And then it's about the populist parties as well making big gains. But we want to thank you Philippe Lamberts for joining us.
[Lamberts:] My pleasure.
[Gorina:] I really appreciate having your perspective. As we continue to cover this story, we are following breaking news on European elections. What will the next parliament look like? What are the powers of the MEPs anyway? We'll tell you all of that after a short break.