With no region of Europe spared by the effects of the economic downturn, it was tempting to interpret the centre-left’s poor performance in Sunday’s European election as a damning verdict on social democracy’s answer to the crisis.

EU-wide issues rarely figure high in national campaigns ahead of EU polls. As Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, professor of democracy studies at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, put it: “The EU elections are like a European soccer championship played in each national league with aggregated results.”