Despite the worrying gains by certain eurosceptic right-wing and far-right parties in the European Parliament elections, the political centre has retained its majority, and this is positive news for Europe.

There was certainly no far-right landslide as some had predicted. The European People’s Party (EPP), the main centre-right grouping, made gains and remains the largest party. And the Socialists held their ground and are still the second biggest party. The main losers were the Liberals and the Greens who lost 28 and 20 seats each. But between them these four pro-European centrist parties have a comfortable majority.

This does not mean that the gains by far-right parties can be ignored, especially since they performed particularly well in Germany – with the Alternative for Germany (AFD) coming in second place and beating the governing Social Democrats of Chancellor Olaf Sholz – and in France where

National Rally came first and got double the votes of President Emmanuel Macron’s Liberal coalition.

The consequences of the German and French vote are all too clear: both governments have been severely weakened – which is worrying considering Germany and France have such a crucial role in leading the EU.

In Germany, however, the opposition pro-EU centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU), came on top of the poll by a wide margin so it does not look like the far-right AFD are poised to emerge as a winner at the next German election.

The fallout from the European election is much more serious in France where President Macron called a snap parliamentary election – a huge gamble which could see the far-right governing in cohabitation with him.

So certainly a lot is at stake when French voters go to the polls in two rounds of voting on June 30 and July 7.

Europe today faces a vast number of challenges including security, defence, migration, the war in Ukraine, climate change, competitiveness, digital threats to democracy, cybersecurity, EU expansion, and a war in Gaza.

It is unclear how the right-wing shift in the European elections will affect how these issues are tackled – we hope that any changes in migration policy will not continue coming at the expense of humman rights.

We may even see changes to the EU’s ‘Green Deal’ – but it all depends on how different groupings can find common ground.

Compromises will inevitably have to be made – as long as these do not violate Europe’s core values – and parties in the centrist bloc will have to approach other parties for cooperation on a case by case basis.

We hope to see agreements reached with the mildly eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists Group, headed by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who is emerging as

Europe’s kingmaker after her Brothers of Italy won the European elections and her European grouping got more seats than the Liberals.

Negotiations are now also in full swing over who should be appointed to the EU’s top posts. Malta’s Roberta Metsola is expected to be re-elected president of the European Parliament – making her the second only person to be get two terms in such a post. She received a 100 per cent endorsement from her EPP MEPs as their candidate, something we should be very proud of as a nation.

Europe needs strong determined leaders to take it forward. European unity and the determination to change whenever necessary is essential if we want to make progress and address our many challenges. Responsibility for this lies with us all and we should never take the EU project for granted. Especially at a time when some players within the same project are bent on putting spokes in its wheels.