French right seemingly open to deal with hard-right in EU parliament

While European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said she is willing to work with the EU’s conservative ECR group under certain conditions, the top candidate for the EU election list of France’s right-wing Les Républicains party (LR/EPP), François-Xavier Bellamy, appears to be leaving the door open to talks with the hard right.

Interviewed by France Inter on Monday, Bellamy explained it would be “absurd” not to hold talks with representatives of the predominantly hard-right ECR group, which includes Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party, Spain’s VOX and France’s Reconquête.

“In parliament, majorities are achieved text by text, vote by vote, sometimes amendment by amendment. At the risk of surprising you, it has very often happened to me, but also to our Macronist colleagues, even our Socialist colleagues, to vote for proposals from the ECR group,” Bellamy explained.

What kind of coalition?

Less than two weeks before the European elections in,iwhene far-right parties are expected to make a strong showing, it seems that any coalition in the European Parliament is possible.

During a debate on 23 May, European Commission President and EPP candidate Ursula von der Leyen explained that, if elected for a second term, three criteria would be necessary to join her coalition: A pro-European line, support for Ukraine and defence of the rule of law.

All eyes are now on the ECR group.

After launching a procedure to expel her former German allies in the AfD, who have been hit by repeated scandals, French far-right leader Marine le Pen called on Meloni to join forces to form “the second largest group in the European Parliament” in an interview with Corriere della Sera.

Le Pen’s Rassemblement National (RN) polling above 30% is part of the far-right EU group Identity and Democracy (ID).

The need for ‘dialogue’

However, while possible future coalitions will consider the balance of power that will emerge from the June elections, Bellamy has said for years that engaging in “dialogue” with all parties is necessary.

In September, his party was the only one in the EPP group not to support a resolution declaring that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s government was no longer a democracy but an “electoral autocracy.”

Of the eight MEPs from his party, four – including Bellamy – voted against it, and four abstained.

Two years earlier, in July 2020, Bellamy accepted an invitation from the Foundation for a Civic Hungary, close to Fidesz, to moderate a discussion between Orbán, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Slovenia’s then-prime minister and leader of the right-wing populist SDS, Janez Janša.

“Too many superficial judgements, sometimes based on false information, have made dialogue impossible,” said Bellamy in his opening remarks.

However, he rejects any rapprochement with Le Pen’s Rassemblement National, whose members he accuses of “not working” in the European Parliament. “They have had three times as many MEPs as we have for five years, but they haven’t fought a single battle. The Parliament is a daily battle”, he told France Inter.

Bellamy also appears to favour Eric Zemmour’s far-right Reconquête party.

Asked who he would vote for in a second-round duel between outgoing president Emmanuel Macron and Reconquête leader Éric Zemmour ahead of the 2022 presidential election, Bellamy said he would back the far-right leader.

In November 2018, Marion Maréchal, a former Rassemblement National MP and now leader of the Reconquête! list for the European elections, said: “It’s true that if someone like François-Xavier Bellamy is confirmed as leader of the European list, I don’t see what tomorrow would prevent alliances from being formed to defend the French most effectively.”

Bellamy’s campaign team did not reply to Euractiv’s questions by the time of publication.

[Edited by Daniel Eck/Alice Taylor]

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