Far left and far right. Europeans have seen leaders of two extreme political leanings getting the mandate of voters within one year amid the weak economic recovery.

At the European Union level, far-right parties, which are against European integration, won more seats than expected in the European Parliament election in May. On Monday, the far-left Syriza party leader Alexis Tsipras was sworn in as the prime minister of debt-ridden Greece.

The rise of far-right parties stirred heated debates last year on how it might harm EU integration and whether it would lead to the United Kingdom exiting the EU.