BRUSSELS Cooperation between groups in the upcoming European Parliament heats up emotions during the elections.
The political groups in the EU Parliament, with the exception of the center-right EPP, signed a petition last week, according to which they will not cooperate with far-right and radical parties. The social democrats, liberals, greens and the left are included.
The ban was immediately put to the test when the leader of the Dutch radical right-wing Freedom Party Geert Wilders announced that the country would have a government in which they would be involved. In the end, Wilders also got an outgoing prime minister in his government Mark Rutten of the liberal VVD party.
The French chairman of the liberal Renew group was especially outraged by this Valerie Hayer. He disapproved of Rutte’s decision and demands discussions. They tell about it Euractiv– and Politico-foliage.
The liberals are especially on their toes because the far right threatens to take its place as the third largest group in the EU Parliament.
In the European Parliament, the groups need each other’s support in order to get the majority behind the issue they want. In this period, the majorities have often been formed by the largest groups EPP and the Social Democrats, as well as the Liberals and the Greens.
In opinion polls, the ECR and ID groups have competed for the third place alongside the liberals.
In the future, the EPP is expected to rely more often on the national conservative ECR group if it wants to pursue a more right-wing policy. The groups have similar ideas about, for example, climate issues and immigration.
EPP and ECR are not able to dictate things together, but their negotiating position vis-a-vis the left and liberals is improving.
It is unclear whether the EPP would cooperate with the entire group or whether it would only pick parties suitable for the salon.
The Prime Minister of Italy has become the favorite in the ECR group Giorgia Meloni with the Italian Brothers party. After becoming prime minister, Meloni has pursued constructive politics, supported Ukraine and, among other things, persuaded the Hungarian prime minister Victor Orban Behind support for Ukraine.
However, Spain’s Vox party and Poland’s Law and Justice also belong to the same group.
In the European Parliament, groups do not have group discipline like the parliamentary parties. However, especially the largest groups strive to make decisions as uniformly as possible.
There are seven groups in the European Parliament
European People’s Party EPP
A center-right group that includes the Finnish coalition and the Christian Democrats.
The group is on average more conservative than the coalition, although both have a liberal and traditional wing.
The influence of the German MEPs is big, as the group includes the German Christian Democratic Union CDU and Bavaria’s even more conservative sister party CSU. The group is led by CSU Manfred Weber.
The difference also came to the fore during the last EU elections, when Manfred Weber and Alexander Stubb competed for the top nomination at the group’s meeting in Finland in 2018. The EPP chose the conservative Weber.
Socialists and Democrats
The Social Democrats is quite close to its European group, although there are differences in emphasis. For example, the parliamentary group has a more positive attitude towards the EU’s collective debt than SDP.
The most important country in the group is Spain. The group is led by a Spaniard Iratxe Garcia Perez.
It is important for both of them to push for workers’ rights and curb economic discipline.
Renew
The liberal group includes Finland Center and RKP.
The French-dominated Renew was born after the last EU elections on the basis of the former liberal Alde group when the president Emmanuel Macron wanted a group of his own. The group is led by a Frenchman Valerie Hayer.
The party supports a strong EU and integration development.
The Finnish parties moved into the group along with the Aldeans. The center would not suddenly be associated with the liberals, and the MEPs in the center are not necessarily at home in the group.
Macron’s Renaissance is likely to lose support, shrinking the now third-largest Renew group in parliament.
Green
Suomen Vrihät sits well in its European Parliament group, although the parties also have differences in emphasis. There are different parties within the group, such as the pirate party.
The group is led by a German Terry Reintke and Belgian Philippe Lamberts.
Germans are the majority of the group with 25 MEPs.
Left
The group is clearly more left-wing than the Finnish left-wing coalition. There are a lot of former communist parties in the group. The group is led by a Frenchman Manon Aubry.
The left is united when, for example, human rights, equality, climate change and criticism of economic discipline policy are on display. In many other matters, the group’s voices may be scattered.
ECR
The European conservatives and reformists group includes basic Finns.
The group was left as a legacy by the British Conservatives when Brexit took them away.
Polish Law and Justice is the largest party in the group with 27 MEPs. Italian prime minister by Giorgia Meloni The Italian Brothers party has ten MPs in the group. In the lead are Italy Nicola Procaccini and Poland Antoni Ryszard.
The group wants to make the EU smaller, limit immigration and reduce investments to curb climate change. Ukraine is generally supported. Some in the EU consider the group to be far-right.
The members of the ECR group have experience in the governments of their countries.
Basic Finns moved to the group from the ID group in the spring of 2023. The party emphasizes that the reason was ID’s pro-Russia attitude. It is also generally estimated that it would have been difficult for the party to get into government from the far-right ID group.
id
A far-right group. The parties are united by anti-EU and restriction of immigration. Some of the parties are or at least have been very pro-Russia.
The largest party in the group is the Italian Lega, or Northern League, which has 23 MEPs in the group. The group includes France Marine Le Pen The national coalition with 18 MEPs and the Alternative for Germany, or AFD, with nine MEPs. The group is led by an Italian Marco Zanni.
There is pro-Russian thinking in the group, which, for example, Lega has faded after Russia attacked Ukraine.
The so-called Gordon sanitaire isolation procedure has been applied to the ID group, i.e. it has not been given the responsible tasks of the committees. ID MEPs use speeches in the hall and vote, but they have not been active in legislative work.
Ylen’s European election machine
‘s European election website