Exactly one week left until the votes are counted. The European elections of 8 and 9 June, when all of Europe will go to the polls to renew or change the balance of the European Parliament, are getting closer. But what are the parties will they make up the new Parliament?
Europe votes to renew Parliament
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To form the European Parliament I’m in everything seven great political families, made up of parties that come from all over Europe, and which are more similar to each other in their political programs and ideas. The main European party, which obtained the majority of seats in the last elections, is the European People’s Party (EPP)of which the Italian party is part Forza Italia. Considered among the most moderate parties, it can be considered the center-right of the European political landscape and makes support for Ukraine and the creation of a common European defense two of its main themes. The EPP’s ideas were also an expression of the work of Ursula Von der Leyenpresident of the European Commission for the last five years, and whom the party would like to re-apply for a second mandate, as also expressed several times by Forza Italia leader Antonio Tajani.
The second most voted group in the old legislature was the European Socialist Party (S&D) of which, in Italy, the Democratic party as well as for example the Spanish Socialist Party, led by Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez and the German Social Democratic Party, of Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Among the most important issues of this political family, which represents the centre-leftwe find equal pay between the sexes, the fight against tax evasion and particular attention to the use of renewable energy.
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Instead, it is positioned exactly in the center between the two parties seen so far Renew Europe (RE)born in 2019 and which has the French president among its main leaders Emmanuel Macron. Among the centrists of Renew, they sit the United States of Europe by Matteo Renzi and Emma Bonino and Action by Carlo Calenda. Parties that will run separately and that to go to Europe will have to overcome the threshold set at 4%. Among the main characteristics of the group is the objective of an increasingly larger and more compact Europe, which can count on a common defense and which establishes a Commissioner for European defense.
Moving away from the center and looking further to the right we find the group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)composed among others by the party in government in our country, Brothers of Italy of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as well as Reconquête! of the French far-right intellectual and politician Éric Zemmour, and the Spanish party Vox. In addition to these also the far-right Law and Justice party, which governed Poland until the end of 2023. Among their main ideas is the return of part of sovereignty to individual states, the management of immigration left to non-European countries and the decrease in the rights of LGBTQ+ communities.
The members of the group are of similar ideas, but with an even more extreme positioning Identity and Democracy (Id)in which also sits the Matteo Salvini’s League. Until a few days ago, the group was made up of Marine Le Pen’s French party, Rassemblement National, and the German far-right party Alternative für Deutschland. However, on May 23 the group announced that it had expelled the Germans following a statement winking at the SS Nazis made by Maximilian Krah, the party’s leader in the European elections.
Looking instead to the left of parliament we find the group of Greens/European Free Alliance (Greens/ALE), among which sit the Italian Greens elected with the party Greens and Left Alliance. This group had 72 members in the last parliament and is fighting for a rapid and convinced ecological transition. Close to them is the party of Left (GUE/NGL) which includes the Italians elected by the Greens and Left coalition if they manage to exceed the 4% threshold and parties such as La France Insoumise, Jean-Luc Mélenchon’s party and those of the Spanish radical left such as Podemos and Izquierda Unida.
A big question mark in view of these elections remains the choice of 5 Star Movement, given that in the previous five years they remained among the non-members. In recent days the possibility of the birth of a new group, precisely at the hands of the M5s, after the leader Giuseppe Conte he explained how “we will go to the progressive area, not with the socialists, there will be a surprise.” However, it remains likely that there will be talk of new alliances only after the upcoming elections.
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