Brussels, 19/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - Members of Belgium's Flemish Nationalist Party, the Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA), have refused to walk through the door that the European Parliament's ALDE Group leader Guy Verhofstadt had opened to them in the European Parliament. In the evening of Wednesday 18 June, the colleagues of N-VA leader Bart de Wever chose to join the ranks of the Conservative ECR Group - to which also belong the UK's Conservatives, Finland's True Finns, the Danish People's Party and Germany's anti-euro Alternative für Deutschland. This last-minute move from the N-VA shatters the ALDE Group's hopes of remaining the third political force in the European Parliament - a position which is now held by the ECR Group. “Fourth place doesn't make any difference for the dynamic of the votes, but it's more annoying for the posts”, said a source from the ALDE Group at the end of last week.
This decision “is not good for the European project”, Verhofstadt stated after the N-VA's announcement of its move to the ECR, as reported by Belgian broadcaster RTBF. “We stretch out our hand to all those who want to cooperate to reform and strengthen the European Union. To leave the crisis behind, it's urgent to review tax and economic union. With this in mind, ALDE had set aside all the obstacles to the N-VA joining it”, said Verhofstadt.
On Tuesday 17 June, ALDE members had approved their being joined by the N-VA as well as four other parties - despite the abstention of delegations from France's Centrist Mouvement Démocratique (MoDem) and from Belgium's Liberal Mouvement Réformateur (MR). Following the N-VA's choice, the ALDE Group now counts 67 seats in the European Parliament, while the ECR Group counts 68. (SP)