5 Stars MEPs at the European Parliament “We’ll fight the battles no one has fought before”

The 5 Stars Movement patrol has landed in Brussels. The newly elected MEPs arrived at the European Parliament, and Beppe Grillo wrote on his blog “This is an epic change, we strongly wanted it and we got it. This is a challenge we are ready to face all together. From today on, in Brussels (and in Strasbourg) there will be debates about the abolition of the Fiscal Compact, about eurobonds, about Mediterranean alliances and investments in innovation – talks about the battles the 5SM is fighting in Italy and will fight in Europe.”

The first target of these 5 Stars MEPs, joining a group. “The choice of a group is usually made in the last three days, we will be probably hold a referendum on Thursday to decide the group we are going to join, citizens will decide,” said Claudio Messora, head of the communication in Europe. The head of the delegation will be Ignazio Corrao, from Sicily, at least in the first quarter. “We’ll fight the battles no one has fought before, we will make Italians understand how the European Parliament works and what happens here, because the decisions taken here are those influencing the everyday life of citizens,” said Corrao at his arrival. “First of all, we’ll try to show what happens here. Then, we’ll try to change it and to make a new kind of politics, closer to the needs of forgotten territories,” he added.

The first hurdle is already there: which will be their group? “We all agree and we think the group will be our ace in the hole, then as every movement there should be a moment of reflection. Still, we are focused on our battles,” said Corrao. ELD seems to be the most probable choice, yet it is not sure whether Nigel Farage could create his own group or not.

“We haven’t made any alliance yet. It will be made when the web says its word, when citizens decide. Still, we are not excluding a candidate a priori because he or she pisses someone else off, it is not democratic,” said Messora, referring to the possible alliance with Farage. On the other hand, he made the audience understand there was no advance with the Greens: “No offer came from the Greens, everything is still open, yet there’s no discussion. We have asked for a meeting but the answer was no – for ideological reasons.”