A surprise initiative to transfer the 17 Italian MEPs from the Five Star Movement (M5s) in the Eurosceptic EFDD group to the pro-European ALDE Group at the European Parliament had been strung together by the former Italian comedian Beppe Grillo and several leaders from the liberal group, including Sophie in't Veld from the Netherlands. It provoked such controversy, however, among MEPs from M5s, as well as those in the liberal family, that the leader of the ALDE group, Guy Verhofstadt, was obliged to withdraw it.
An internal source within the ALDE Group has indicated that faced with the unanimous position against his initiative, the President of the liberal group, Guy Vershofstadt has withdrawn his proposal. In a press release, the former Belgian Prime Minister stated, "There is insufficient common ground to proceed with the request of the Five Star Movement to join the ALDE Group. There remain fundamental differences on key European issues. However, on issues of shared interest, such as the environment, transparency and direct democracy, the ALDE Group and the Five Star Movement will continue to work closely together”.
This step backwards forced on the liberal leader could have repercussions on his leadership within the group and his ability to bring people together beyond his political camp as part of the campaign for the presidency of the European Parliament.
During an e-vote on Sunday and Monday of the 40,654 members of the Five-Star Movement (M5S), 78.5% voted on joining the ALDE, 15.85% voted in favour of the Italian MEPs staying in the EFDD, which mainly consists of the M5s and Eurosceptic UKIP party and 5.6% voted for joining the group of Non-attached (NI).
Nonetheless, Several MEPs from the M5s - including Marco Valli and Marco Zanni – sharply criticised the initiative on social networks last Sunday, describing it as abhorrent and having not even been discussed. On Monday, journalists and MEPs enjoyed themselves by dredging up the criticism and accusations used in the past by Mr Verhofstadt and Grillo against each other.
One source indicated that Mr Grillo came to Brussels on Monday for discussions with the leader of ADLE. They had already discussed practical ways of integrating the 17 Italian MEPs into the liberal group. In the event of an approval being obtained by majority of MEPs in ALDE, the latter would have taken in the Italian MEPs for the first time during this Parliament, which would have made it the third most influential group in Parliament, after the EPP and S&D groups.
The date limit for the official transmission of the formation political groups has been set for Wednesday 11 January at 18:00 hours.
Irreconcilable divisions in ALDE group.
A rapprochement between M5s and the liberal group was far from obtaining unanimity within ALDE. Criticism was made of the doublespeak involving calls for increased transparency in European political life and the “totally secret” negotiations of an agreement that took many MEPs by surprise. Questions were asked about whether Mr Verhofstadt had acted to strengthen his now a official position as a candidate for the presidency of the European Parliament. One expert criticised the fact that “bringing 17 MEPs into the fold is not going to change anything at all!” The same expert pointed out that, “no one asked for this at all, what is the strategy?” and did not rule out the fact that some delegations would even be questioning whether or not to remain in ALDE if such a marriage with the M5s were consummated.
The Finnish delegations (4 MEPs), Danish (3 MEPs) and Swedish (3 MEPs) ultimately expressed their opposition to this initiative in writing. The French delegation represented by Marielle de Sarnez and Sylvie Goulard were on the same wavelength. Without denying M5s’ evident wish to renew Italian political life, Ms Goulard noted on her website that this political movement first entered Parliament in and 2014 and is “largely perceived as anti-European and often over the top” and that following the local elections in Rome it had been experiencing “serious difficulties”. Among some of the deeper differences with the M5s, the French liberal mentioned the desire of the populist movement to organise a referendum on whether or not to keep Italy in the Eurozone, creating an alliance of southern countries against Northern Europe in the economic domain and putting an end to budgetary discipline, in addition to a concept of trade that had the “Imprint of protectionism” about it.
MEP and former Estonian Prime Minister, Taavi Rõivas, said “Staying true to your values is more important than size. I do not see M5S_Europa fit to join the ALDE group”.
Greens/EFA group ruled out alliance with M5s at the end of 2016
During a plenary session last December, the Greens/EFA group voted against any merger with the 17 Italian MEPs. The Belgian copresident of the Greens/EFA group, Philippe Lamberts informed EUROPE that, “This was a difficult decision to take but it was collective, which does not appear to have been the case within ALDE”. Given the behaviour observed during the vote, it would be “logical” according to him, to see M5s join the Greens/EFA because their MEPs agree with 80% of the different dossiers. Out of the 20% of other dossiers, he said that they disagreed with the important issues such as “economic and monetary integration and asylum and immigration”. Mr Lamberts said that the rejection expressed by his group is due “not only to a question of substance but also of style” in politics in an area where the actors are expected to respect one another. (Mathieu Bion and Lionel Changeur)