European populist parties on the rise

Anti-European Union, anti-immigrant populist parties notched up electoral successes in Europe. In elections in the Netherlands in March, the far-right populist Freedom Party finished just behind the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, and Alternative for Germany emerged in Germany in September as the third-largest party, becoming the first right-wing populist party to enter the federal parliament since World War II.

Chancellor Angela Merkel fell short of obtaining a majority of seats, and by the end of the year was still struggling to form a government.

In France, the pro-EU centrist Emmanuel Macron became the country's youngest head of state since Napoleon in May by emphatically beating his far-right rival Marine Le Pen. Several weeks later, Macron's party, La Republique en Marche, won more than half the seats in legislative assembly elections.