Brussels – No last-second thrill, but it is possible to guess the internal balances in Renew Europe from what happened on the day before the election of the new chair of the group in the European Parliament after the farewell of Stéphane Séjourné (France’s new foreign minister). As sources of the European Liberals say, “by today’s 2 p.m. deadline,” only the candidacy of French MEP Valérie Hayer was submitted, while the possible challenger – Dutch ‘regent’ Malik Azmani – decided to step back not to bring to the vote count the broader challenge between the two souls of Renew Europe: Renaissance and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).
The election to succeed former group president Séjourné became necessary after January 11, after she took office in the new French government led by Gabriel Attal. While Renew Europe’s first vice-president took over as interim president, in a closed-door meeting last week, the leadership of the Liberal group in the European Parliament decided to open the race for the post instead of reaching the end of the term with the successor MEP. Hayer’s candidacy immediately appeared to be a choice from Paris to provide continuity with her predecessor and to allow French President Emmanuel Macron to maintain influence over the group through prominent Renaissance figures. Instead, a possible challenge by Azmani could have been seen as an attempt by ALDE to regain control after the resignation, in 2021, of Dacian Cioloș, former Prime Minister of Romania and the first President of Renew Europe (before Séjourné).
Renew Europe is a liberal political group established on in the EU Parliament on July 2, 2019, thanks to the convergence of then French President Macron’s La République En Marche! and two European parties: the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and the European Democratic Party (PDE). In Brussels, the Liberal group constitutes the third largest group by number of MEPs (101), after the European People’s Party (179) and the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (141). Since the establishment of Renew Europe in 2019, the leadership of the European liberals has been contested between what is now Renaissance and ALDE, after the latter’s monopoly in the previous 15 years through its namesake group in the EU Parliament. The new chair Hayer will be appointed tomorrow morning (Jan. 25) at 8 a.m. by acclamation.
Renew Europe in Italy
The changes at Renew Europe also affect three Italian parties: +Europa (ALDE member), Azione, and Italia Viva (PDE members), respectively led by Carlo Calenda and Matteo Renzi. At the September 25, 2022, Italian general elections, the so-called Third Pole decided to refer to its European identity by including Renew Europe in the symbol of the electoral agreement between Azione and Italia Viva. The experiment continued in the following months until it broke apart in April when the parties were discussing the charter of values, the program, and the name of the single party. At the time, senior sources within Renew Europe’s Italian delegation to the EU Parliament told Eunews that there would be a reference to the Liberal group but that the orientation was toward a more Italian name than Renew Italia.
Italia Viva joined the Renew Europe group on February 12, 2020, after the announcement of the MEP and now head-delegation of the Third Pole in the group, Nicola Danti (who on September 5 of the previous year succeeded Roberto Gualtieri, who was appointed minister of Economy in the Conte II government), the Democratic Party, and the Renzi-led force from the S&D group. The pattern was similar for Azione and its leader, Calenda, elected MEP in 2019 from the ranks of the PD, which he left not even six months later to establish his political force. For two years (since November 2019,) Azione remained within the S&D group, but on November 17, 2021, it formally joined the Renew Europe group. With Calenda’s election to the Italian Senate in 2022, the party has been left without representation in Brussels since his replacement is the former mayor of Vicenza and member of the PD, Achille Variati (the leader of Azione in 2019 was a Dem leader in the North-Eastern Italy constituency).
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
