Here’s how a far-right EU supergroup could work in practice

4 months ago 18

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In today’s edition

A far-right supergroup has become the talk of the town, but what “organisational arrangements” can be made to iron out remaining grievances among national parties?
Bits of the week: Schmit eyes Commission vice-presidency; Potential contenders for Renew’s presidency; MEP candidates involved in scandals investigation; New development in ‘Russiagate saga’.

While the creation of a far-right supergroup in the European Parliament remains difficult due to internal disagreements, “organisational arrangements” from the UK’s Tories in 1999 and the current standing of the regionalist European Free Alliance (EFA) party within the Greens group may show the way.

Speculation has been rife in the Brussels bubble about the ever-increasing possibility of merging the groups on the right wing of the hemicycle, especially following a grand rally in Madrid, with guests from across the right-wing spectrum.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, France’s Marine Le Pen and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have also made it very clear they want to unify all ‘sovereigntist’ parties and shift the balance of power to the right of the traditional pro-European majority.

A supergroup composed of the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) group and the nationalist European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) along with other non-affiliate parties could score around 160 seats, according to Europe Elects’ projections for Euractiv, thus becoming the second largest force in the European Parliament.

Meanwhile, the creation of a new group more far-right than ID, composed of parties sidelined by everyone, such as Bulgaria’s Vazrazhdane and Germany’s AfD, both recently kicked out of ID after controversies surrounding their links to Vladimir Putin’s Russia, may incentivise further ID-ECR cooperation.

The feat will not be easy as there are wide disagreements between the two far-right factions on key policy areas, like support for Ukraine, as well as long-lasting feuds among national parties such as between Le Pen’s Rassemblement National and Eric Zemmour’s Reconquête, or between Hungary’s Fidesz and Romania’s AUR.

However, there are “organisational arrangements” available to ease such tensions and they are being reviewed, said Poland’s PiS leader Mateusz Morawiecki, a member of ECR.

The Tories’ distant relationship with EPP

Between 1999 and 2009, the EPP hosted a subgroup called ‘European Democrats (ED)’, led by the UK Conservatives, which represented a more right-wing, Eurosceptic faction attached to the centre-right, effectively acting as a semi-autonomous unit.

“ED was explicitly written in EPP Group rules of procedure and they were not obliged to vote with the rest of the group,” Jan Zahradil, MEP for Czechia’s ODS and formerly a member of ED, told Euractiv.

After the 2009 EU elections the European Democrats, led by the British conservatives and Czechia’s conservative ODS, parted ways to create what we know now as ECR.

“I believe that this or similar arrangements could be replicated in the ECR if necessary,” Zahradil, currently a member of ECR, said when asked about a merger with ID, adding the subgroup “was mostly an alibi for the UK Conservatives not to be directly part of the EPP”.

The ECR has an interest in keeping the far-right ID newcomers as a semi-autonomous faction to keep their newly honed image of a relatively ‘constructive, pro-European’ force capable of bypassing the long-standing ‘cordon-sanitaire’, while also reaping the benefits of incorporating a high number of extremist MEPs – such as more budget, more speaking time, and, possibly, Parliament top jobs.

At the same time, there is no need to ensure ideological unity, as a coherent voting line has never been a priority for either ID or ECR, whose national delegations vote according to their interest.

Apart from ED, the Greens/EFA group, at the other end of the political spectrum, also gives us an idea of what a far-right supergroup could look like.

EFA’s autonomy within Greens

The European Free Alliance is a European micro-party composed of a handful of regionalist forces that vouch for ‘self-determination’ in Europe, which joined forces with the Greens in 1999 to create a new group.

While sharing common political objectives and values, EFA remains “an independent and autonomous entity,” Catalan nationalist MEP Jordi Solé told Euractiv.

“We hold regular EFA Group meetings to discuss our MEPs’ priorities, voting strategies, and communication plans. We have our own communications team, advisors, and management, making our own decisions independently,” he said.

While new ECR members joining from ID could thus remain autonomous like ED and EFA, groups as a whole do need to share at least some political objectives enshrined in an act sent to the Parliament president when they are formed.

While ECR and ID mostly clash over supporting Ukraine’s war efforts, common points could include a rollback of Green Deal legislation and the return of EU competencies from Brussels to member states.

Bits of the week

Schmit, next commission vice-president? The European Socialists lead candidate and current Luxembourgish Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit, told Euractiv he finds it “logical” for him to be appointed Commission vice-president if he does not manage to score the top job. He also said the centre-right EPP needs to give away some Commissioner posts to the Socialists to rebalance powers, in a message to Luxembourg’s centre-right Prime Minister Luc Frieden, who would need to nominate Schmit for him to be part of the Commission again.

Wilmès, Ódor: possible challengers to Hayer’s Renew presidency. On the day after the EU elections, MEPs will sit with their groups to start negotiating who gets the presidency and vice-presidencies. A big question is who will score the presidency of Renew – either current President Valérie Hayer, representing France’s Besoin d’Europe coalition, or someone from ALDE, the biggest European liberal party.

“ALDE MEPs will constitute the majority of the next Renew Europe/liberal group, whatever scenario, and so there is a level of expectation that some key responsibilities and positions of leadership will come to ALDE in the next mandate,” a well-informed source at ALDE told Euractiv.

The source also pointed to Belgium’s Sophie Wilmès and Slovakia’s Ľudovít Ódor, both former prime ministers, as possible contenders.

One in five candidates involved in scandal. According to an investigation by Follow the Money, almost one in five candidates who have a realistic chance of earning a seat were involved in a scandal at some point in their career. The centre-right to far-right groups EPP, ECR and ID account for 62 of the 86 candidates caught in a scandal, from a total of 472 researched candidates from 10 EU member states.

Russia influence saga continues, everywhere. On Wednesday, the offices and home of a parliamentary assistant of Marcel de Graaff (FvD) were searched by the Belgium authorities, in connection to the Russian propaganda network Voice of Europe scandal. Meanwhile, Danish liberal candidate Alexandra Sasha has retired from the race after being accused of links to Russia. In Ireland, MEP Clare Daly of The Left is studying legal action after the media accused her of facilitating information to a Russian spy.