Potential far-right supergroup: How far apart are ECR an ID?

While talks about the two far-right forces in the European Parliament, the ECR and the ID, merging into a supergroup have surfaced in recent months, in reality, the two groups are miles apart on the most salient issues.

While a joint far-right group in the European Parliament has long been seen as a pipe dream, a recent push by some of the most influential parties in the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and the Identity and Democracy Party (ID) has revitalised the idea.

“This is the moment for us to join forces, it would be truly useful,” French far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen recently told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Such a group would likely be the second-largest force within the European Parliament following the election and reach around 160 seats, according to Europe Elects – around 20 seats behind the European People’s Party.

While many of the parties in the two groups are united in their Eurosceptic approach, they differ considerably when it comes to their actual voting behaviour in the European Parliament, according to new data Euractiv obtained from the research Platform EU Matrix.

A merger with ID would particularly damage the ECR’s group cohesion. Whereas in the last legislative term, the hard right ECR voted together 79% of the time, this would drop to 64% if they joined ranks with ID.

Voting cohesion within a group is a key factor for collaboration with other parties in the European Parliament, as such low percentage points would make them seem like a less reliable partner.

Furthermore, a potential far-right supergroup could even lose instead of gaining the ECR some of its power within the European Parliament.

While the ECR has managed to appear somewhat presentable, with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen even considering forming an alliance with them following the election, the parties within the ID are still regarded as off-limits.

This has already been visible in the past five years. While the success rate of the plenary amendments tabled by the ID was less than one per cent, the ECR managed to push their views through over 17% of the time, according to data by EU Matrix.

This trend has also been exacerbated regarding the two parties’ position on Russia and the support for Ukraine, which the EPP has marked as a red line for future collaboration.

Russia and Ukraine

While almost all the parties within the ECR strongly condemn Russia’s war of aggression, with a voting cohesion of 92%, the ID has struggled to find a common position on the issue in the past. While the ECR and the ID seem to be closely aligned in migration, climate or the green transition, the stance on Russia remains a thorn within their potential collaboration.

“The leading parties in the ECR group, Brothers of Italy and Polish PiS, are among the strongest supporters of close EU-NATO ties and among the biggest critics of Russia’s actions,” Davide Ferrari, Head of Research at EU Matrix, told Euractiv.

“This makes the ECR group somewhat more acceptable to the EU political establishment,” he added.

However, the ECR has also shown in the past that a more hesitant approach towards the support of Ukraine is not necessarily a dealbreaker for them. The two most influential figures within the party, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki have kept the door open for Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz to join their ranks despite his controversial position on Ukraine.

*Additional reporting by Nick Alipour.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

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