After joining Azione, Fabio Massimo Castaldo joins the liberals of Renew

Brussels – Fabio Massimo Castaldo, formerly of the 5 Star Movement (Movimento 5 Stelle), changes sides in Italy and Europe. A week after joining the Action party (Azione), the announcement: after a term in the European Parliament among the benches of the non-attached in the ranks of the 5 Star Movement, he is joining the liberal group of Renew Europe.

“Welcome to the most pro-European family in Parliament. Welcome home,” the group’s new chairwoman, Valérie Hayer, welcomed him in a post on X. In the third group in the European Parliament after the Populars and the Social Democrats – the three-way alliance on which the so-called “Ursula majority” was based – Castaldo joins his newly appointed party-mate Giuseppe Ferrandino, Nicola Danti, in Matteo Renzi’s party, and another former 5-Star representative, Marco Zullo.

The 38-year-old Roman – vice president of the European Parliament from 2017 to 2022 – divorced from the 5-Star Movement over disagreements with Giuseppe Conte’s faction on sending arms to support Ukraine’s resistance. On Feb. 1, during a press conference at the Chamber of Deputies to announce the newly acquired member of Azione, Carlo Calenda said Castaldo joined the party “on a decisive point for us, which is the holding of an axis of support for Ukraine.”

A natural port in Europe after joining Calenda, Castaldo thanked Renew for the “very warm welcome” and said he was honored to “be able to relaunch the path of European integration together.” His former party members wished him good luck with a jab: by joining Azione, Castaldo “will thus find candidacy and third and fourth terms.” Because in the Movement, there is a rule of the double term limit. And Castaldo aims to stay in Brussels even after the June 6-9, 2024 elections.

Très chère @ValerieHayer, je suis enfin chez moi ! Je vous remercie de tout cœur pour l’accueil très chaleureux que toute la famille de @RenewEurope m’a réservé hier. Honoré de vous avoir comme Présidente, ainsi que de pouvoir relancer ensemble le chemin de l’intégration… https://t.co/P1cXI04yf1

— Fabio Massimo Castaldo (@FMCastaldo) February 8, 2024