Divided pro-EU leaders open talks after tense election

Parties committed to closer European Union integration began bargaining over jobs and policy yesterday after an election to the EU parliament which fragmented the center but gave only limited gains to nationalists.
National leaders of the bloc, many of whom hailed the vote as a vindication, will meet to chart the next steps on Tuesday.
Matteo Salvini, Italian deputy prime minister, leader of the anti-immigration League and potential builder of a far-right alliance across Europe, said his 34% of the Italian national vote was a mandate to rip up euro zone budget austerity rules.
But despite other wins for eurosceptics in big countries, including France, Poland and would-be ex-member Britain, the result was taken as a vote of confidence by mainstream leaders after turnout surged and nationalists advanced only modestly.
“The European elections were tangible proof that European democracy is alive and well,” Margaritis Schinas, chief spokesman of the executive European Commission, told reporters.
“The populists didn’t win this election.”