The new Identity and Democracy (ID) parliamentary group presented itself to the press on Thursday 13 June. With 73 MEPs - 76 after Brexit - from France, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Estonia, the ID group has been ultimately unable to bring together all the populists, who remain divided into various groups.
“It’s true, we could not form this united group for different reasons. There is the issue of Brexit, which has not yet materialized and has weighed heavily”, explained Marco Zanni, who on Wednesday was elected President of the group (see EUROPE 12273/28).
Far from being a “defeat” for the Italian Lega MEP, it is a “starting point” for this group, whose doors remain open. Marco Zanni thus confirmed discussions with Nigel Farage's Brexit Party, as well as with the Spanish Vox party, which could end up joining the ECR group (see EUROPE 12267/1). “With regard to Orbán, his participation in the EPP has never been called into question”, he clarified.
“We must not stick to group accounting logic. There are alliances, but there are also convergences - and they will be essential. This upheaval has led to the emergence, beyond the constitution of the groups, of a sovereigntist bloc of about 200 votes that will have a major influence on future balances and will maintain constant pressure”, said the president of the French Rassemblement national (RN), Marine Le Pen.
But how will ID be different from the ENF? For Marine Le Pen, the two groups are not driven by the same dynamic. “The fact that members of ID participate or have participated in governments clearly gives us a new maturity, a level of expertise and experience that changes the nature of our group”, she said.
When asked about a strategic change and this new group’s more active participation in the European Parliament, Marco Zanni sent the ball back to the other political groups. “We have always worked by making proposals [...] our approach is positive. The question I have is: are the other groups prepared to respect democratic principles and the representation in the institutional bodies of Parliament of parties whose ideas they may not share, but who have won millions of votes?”, he declared.
“I have a feeling we are playing a game that is well known to 4-year-olds, a game of spot the difference”, said Marine Le Pen, annoyed by questions from journalists, which she said were intended to test the consistency of the various speakers’ positions.
“On various subjects, we can have different tendencies, because we also have cultures and traditions that are different. We know this”, she said, adding nevertheless that on the major issues, the ID group has a real common vision.
This common vision is reflected in a political declaration adopted by the group, the contents of which Marco Zanni outlined and which focus on internal security, migration management and economic policy reform.
The Italian MEP stressed above all that budgetary flexibility should be left to the Member States. Asked about the group's position in the event of a new standoff between Italy and the Commission on the Italian debt (see EUROPE 12269/1), he replied that “nation-States must be given full latitude to pursue policies that do not destabilise Europe”.
“We do not want to destroy the European Union [...] We want to act constructively, and sometimes, that means saying ‘no’”, explained Jörg Meuthen of the German AfD, vice-president of the group. The group will say ‘no’ to the communitarisation and supervision of the Member States, but will say ‘yes’ to a Europe of subsidiarity, freedom and competition.
“We didn't come here to make friends [...] We're here to staunch the flow of blood”, he warned.
A first call to order
Also present in the gallery were the leaders of the Czech SPD, the True Finns, the Danish People's Party and the Austrian FPÖ. But the press room was full of MEPs and their assistants, including many French members of the RN such as Jordan Bardella, Thierry Mariani, Gilles Lebreton and Gilbert Collard, who did not fail to applaud each remark as if it were a political meeting.
This earned the group its first call to order from several journalists. The International Press Association (IPA) also reacted accordingly. “The press room is not the place to express praise or approval. IPA would like to protest in the strongest possible terms”, it said on Twitter. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)