This marked the beginning of a new era for European democracy as Parliament consistently showed its broad majority will in support of pluralism , fundamental rights inside and outside the European Communities and the development of common policies .
The 1979 elections were dominated by four major themes :
• the worsening of economic problems linked to the increase in structural unemployment , not experienced equally across Member States , and the high rate of inflation , which led to deepening inequalities between regions in countries subject to the constraints of the EMS ;
• international tensions linked to the Euromissile crisis and the Soviet SS-20 missile affair that had caused divisions between European countries ;
• the confrontation between the pro-Europeanism of the traditional political powers ( popular , socialist and liberal , and joined by the Italian communists led by Enrico Berlinguer and Giorgio Amendola ) and the widespread anti-Europeanism in the United Kingdom among the majority of Conservative and Labour Party members , as well as in certain parts of Danish society , and which was also present among Gaullists and communists in France , who contested the democratic legitimacy of the supranational dimension of the European Communities , giving rise to the phenomenon of Euroscepticism ;
• a high average turnout , of well over 60 %, in spite of a lack of knowledge of the role of the European institutions and , in particular , the European Parliament ; Italy , Belgium and Luxembourg had peaks of over 80 %, facilitated by compulsory voting in Belgium and Luxembourg and despite parliamentary elections having been held shortly beforehand in Italy and Luxembourg .
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