First hoped for, then feared, finally achieved, the overtaking of Renew’s liberals by the Conservatives and Reformists in the European Parliament has become reality. Yesterday in Brussels, at the end of the enlarged meeting of the ECR, the membership of new MEPs to the group chaired by Giorgia Meloni was announced, which reaches 83, officially surpassing Renew (80 seats) and becoming the third European group after the EPP and socialists.
Eleven new MEPs have formally joined the ECR: Kristoffer Storm of the Danish Democratic Party (Danmarksdemokraterne); Ivaylo Valchev of the Bulgarian party «There are such people» (ITN); Aurelijus Veryga of the Lithuanian Farmers and Greens Union (Lietuvos valstiei ir alij sjunga); Claudiu-Richard Tarziu, Gheorghe Piperea, Maria-Georgiana Teodorescu, Adrian-George Axinia and Dimitrie Sturdza, of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (Aliana pentru Unirea Românilor, AUR) and the French MEPs Marion Maréchal, Guillaume Peltier and Laurence Trochu who left Reconquête to form a new conservative party together with Nicolas Bay who was already a member of the group after the break with Eric Zemmour.
This is a significant political fact that shifts the balance of the European Parliament to the right and makes it even more difficult to exclude conservatives from the choices relating to the main boxes of the European institutions. Imagining, in light of these numbers, shifting the center of gravity of the European majority towards the left with an enlargement to the Greens would mean not taking into consideration the growth of the conservatives with all the consequences of the case.
For the liberals of Renew, in addition to the damage caused by the exclusion of the Italian MEPs due to the failure to reach the threshold of Calenda and Renzi, there was also the insult of overtaking the conservatives.
The announcement of the new memberships comes a few days after the first enlargement of the ECR with the arrival of a group of conservative MEPs: from Croatia Stjepo Bartulica of the Movement for the Fatherland (Domovinski Pokret); from Cyprus Geadis Geadi of the National Popular Front (Ethniko Laiko Metopo, ELAM); and from Latvia, Reinis Poznaks of the United List (Apvienotais Saraksts, AS). Furthermore, with Fernand Kartheiser of the Alternative Democratic Reform Party (Alternativ Demokratesch Reformpartei, ADR), the conservatives also added a delegate from Luxembourg for the first time. From Finland, the newly elected Sebastian Tynkkynen of the Party of Finns (Perussuomalaiset) was also welcomed into the Group. Also yesterday, the Brothers of Italy delegation to the European Parliament (made up of 24 MEPs and the largest of the group followed by the Polish Pis) re-elected Carlo Fidanza by acclamation as head of the delegation.
Some questions still remain open, including whether Orbán will join the ECR or not, but there is no doubt that yesterday’s news strengthens Giorgia Meloni also in the negotiations in the European Council in which, with the third group behind her, she can negotiate from a position more strengthened.
Furthermore, new arrivals are not excluded since the definitive composition of the Ecr group will be decided on June 26 when it comes
elected the Bureau ahead of the first plenary session in Strasbourg in mid-July. At the end of the day the EPP elected Manfred Weber as president of the group. Congratulations also from Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani.
