Neck and neck with Renew Europe, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) are continuing their discussions to welcome possible new MEPs, according to their European Parliament group leader, Nicola Procaccini (Italian). They won 83 seats on Wednesday 19 June, overtaking the Liberals for the time being (see EUROPE 13435/7).
However, the ECR will not be able to count on members of the Hungarian Fidesz party, who announced on Thursday 20 June that they did not wish to join the group. At issue is the presence of the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR) in the ranks of the ECR, accused by Viktor Orbán's party of taking an “anti-Hungarian” stance. “Fidesz will not be part of a group alongside such a party in the European Parliament. This is non-negotiable”, declared Fidesz on the X social network.
The door to the ID Group in the European Parliament still seems to be open to Fidesz, which has 11 MEPs.
‘Top jobs’
Asked on Thursday 20 June about the ECR’s support for Ursula von der Leyen as candidate for the presidency of the European Commission, Nicola Procaccini said it was too early to say. However, he pointed out that Ms von der Leyen did not have the support of his party, ‘Fratelli d'Italia’. “We’ve already had Ursula von der Leyen as president of the Commission and her political agenda has veered too far to the left, especially on the Green Deal”, he said on Thursday 20 June to a number of journalists, including Agence Europe. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)