Earlier this year, there was a lot of talk about a huge lurch, a dramatic lurch to the right in europe and we have seen trends in some member states over the last number of years where politics has become more polarised in the far—right and far—left have become a little more extreme. in practice, i think, the shift will not be that dramatic at all, actually. we will certainly see an increase in conservatives and right wing members elected in these elections. i think that's clear. we're going to see a decline in the number of meps elected from the socialist and green political groups in europe but it is not going to be quite as dramatic as some have predicted. i think actually the influence of the far right will be reasonably limited. there will be more of them but i don't think it will be dramatic and i don't think it is going to hugely shift the dynamic in the european parliament.