Will the macronists continue to sit in the European Parliament on the same benches as a Swedish elected official whose party is allied with the far right in Stockholm? The centrist group Renew, chaired by Frenchman Stéphane Séjourné, is struggling to recover from the “shock” of the coming to power of the new Swedish coalition, which brings together three right-wing parties (the Moderates, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals) with the support of the – curiously named – Swedish Democrats (SD).
Admittedly, this far-right party, which won 20% of the vote in the September elections, will not sit in government. But, the European elected representatives were strangled by discovering to what extent his ideas irrigate the 62-page coalition contract carried by the new Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, sworn in on Monday, October 17. Refugee quotas limited to a few hundred people per year, the possibility of deporting foreigners for bad behavior… The immigration and crime chapters are making waves. The Swedish Democrats have also obtained representation on the “Regeringskansliet”, a bit like the general secretariat of the government in France, which assists the Prime Minister in his arbitrations. Obviously, the Liberalema party had not given all these details to its comrades. In recent days, the phones have therefore heated up at the highest level between the caciques of the Renew family. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte is particularly upset.
“Difficult compromises”
In the European Parliament, the Swedish Liberals are represented by MEP Karin Karlsbro. This 52-year-old woman personally fought against the alliance with the extreme right. “There were difficult compromises” she admits in a text published on Facebook. Nevertheless, the question of his possible exclusion was openly raised by some elected officials during a meeting of the Renew office on Tuesday in Strasbourg. “Obviously, we all take this very badly, it’s contrary to our values, indignantly elected Renaissance Pascal Durand. How to be credible in our fight against the far right, if we have to constantly justify ourselves on the situation in Sweden? We are becoming inaudible”.
The left does not hesitate to point this out. “You say Renew fights populism, but your colleagues have just done the opposite by helping a party founded by neo-Nazis come to power!” tackle on Twitter the leader of the social-democratic group Iratxe Garcia Perez, by challenging Stéphane Séjourné.
For the president of Renew, the situation is uncomfortable. He regularly denounces the rapprochement between the conservative right of the European People’s Party and the extreme right, visible for example in Italy. “I don’t want to put dust under the rug, defended this close friend of Emmanuel Macron during a press briefing. I am very comfortable with the member of my group and her convictions, the problem comes of his political party”. Stéphane Séjourné promises a quick decision, even if he would prefer that the difficult decisions are taken by the Alliance of European Liberals and Democrats, the European party to which the Swedish liberals belong and which has the power to exclude them from the family. But for the moment, this body is silent.