The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group in the European Parliament elected Italy’s Nicola Procaccini, of the ‘Fratelli d’Italia’ party, and Poland’s Joachim Brudziński, of the ‘Law and Justice’ party (PiS), as co-chairs on Wednesday 3 July in Sicily (see EUROPE 13444/4).
“The European Elections of 2024 showed that voters want a European Union as it was originally conceived, where Member States came together to achieve a few important things that they could not achieve alone”, commented Mr Procaccini, in a statement. “We will advocate for a Union that respects European founding values, such as the traditional family, alongside the principles that have historically shaped Europe and our identity, which are grounded in Hellenistic, Roman and Christian traditions”, he added.
The Conservative group now has 84 members, thanks to the joining of independent Estonian MEP Jaak Madison. He had left the Conservative People’s Party of Estonia (‘Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond’ or EKRE), and thus the ‘Identity & Democracy’ group, to which the party was attached (see EUROPE 13431/26).
The Polish PiS had finally decided not to join the ‘Patriots for Europe’, the new group that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Austrian Herbert Kickl and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš are trying to form (see EUROPE 13443/15).
According to our information, the offer from the ‘Patriots’ “was not as good as expected”. PiS wanted the post of Secretary General of the new group.
The ECR Group thus confirms its position as the third largest group in the European Parliament, behind the EPP, S&D and Renew Europe Groups.
Assita Kanko (N-VA, Belgian), Hermann Tertsch (‘Vox’, Spanish), Alexandr Vondra (‘ODS’, Czech) and Charlie Weimers (‘Sverigedemokraterna’, Swedish) were elected group vice-presidents, while Denis Nesci (‘Fratelli d’Italia’, Italian) and Kosma Złotowski (PiS, Polish) were elected co-treasurers.
“For us Conservatives, respect for Member States, large and small, is central”, stressed Joachim Brudziński. “As good patriots, we will continue to defend this in Brussels, and I am confident that we will be an effective and persuasive voice in the European Parliament”, he concluded. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)