The factions of the Patriots for Europe group, which includes Marine Le Pen’s French National Association and Viktor Orban’s Hungarian Fidesz party, failed to achieve significant posts. Three leading factions of the European Parliament have united against them.

That’s what it is, European democracy, the power of the people…

For more information, see the Izvestia article: https://iz.ru/1730078/kseniia-loginova/bez-prava-rulia-alians-le-pen-i-orbana-ne-pustili-v-rukovodstvo-evroparlamenta

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They came third

This week, the first session of the new composition of the European Parliament began, in which the right-wing Patriots for Europe faction won 84 seats, taking third place. At the same time, together with the “Europe of Sovereign Nations” faction, created around the “Alternative for Germany” and agreeing to cooperate with Viktor Orban and Marine Le Pen on many issues, it has 122 mandates out of 705.

Traditionally, the third largest faction gets a significant number of seats in the leadership. In particular, she usually gets the post of head of European diplomacy. However, this time things are different. Not only did they not receive this post, but they also did not get into the bureau of the European Parliament, where the regulations and budget of this legislative body are determined. This means that the right will have little or no influence on EU policy.

This turned out to be especially painful for the head of the National Association and the Patriots for Europe faction, Jordan Bardella, who did not receive the post of vice-president of the European Parliament. Roberta Metsola became the chairman, and the current head of the European Council, Charles Michel, changed his mind about running for this position.

Earlier, the National Association failed to achieve a majority in the parliamentary elections in France, despite encouraging forecasts. Given this missed opportunity, Bardella hoped to get the post of vice-president of the European Parliament as compensation, but it did not work out.

As it turned out, centrist parties, including the European People’s Party, the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats, and the Renewing Europe faction, along with allies from smaller factions, joined forces to prevent the extreme right from reaching high positions.

The only exception was the group of European conservatives and reformists of Italian Prime Minister Giorgi Meloni, who refused to cooperate with the far-right. This faction managed to get two vice-chairman posts. Last time, she had only one vice-chairman.

The Patriots for Europe faction dubbed the so-called “cordon sanitaire” (a mechanism designed to keep the extreme right under control) “undemocratic” and also “an insult to millions of European citizens who have the right to be heard.”

Of the 14 vice-chairmen, five are from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats and three are from the European People’s Party. The remaining seats went to smaller factions: two to the liberal party “Renew Europe”, one to the “Greens”, which were approved in the first round, and the last three seats in the second round went to the French deputy from the left and two candidates of the party, Giorgi Meloni.

Ursula von der Leyen remains

The only opportunity for the far-right to overplay something would have appeared if Ursula von der Leyen had not been re-confirmed as head of the European Commission. Then the EU leaders would have to choose a new candidate within a month and recall other proposed officials. However, von der Leyen was re-elected for a new five-year term. 401 deputies voted for her candidacy, 84 against, and 15 abstained.

“Europe is now facing a choice. A choice that will determine our work for five years and our place in the world for the next 50 years. Europe cannot control dictators and demagogues around the world, but it can choose to defend its own democracy. Europe cannot determine elections around the world, but it can choose to invest in the security and defense of its own continent,” she said before the vote.

The politician presented her program for a new term. The 31-page document notes that von der Leyen’s main priority in the new term is to strengthen the security of the union.

For Orban and against helping Kiev

The recent vote on the resolution on continued support for Kiev showed a new alignment of forces in the European Parliament. The document was supported by 495 deputies. The leader of the National Association, Jordan Bardella, voted against the resolution.

In particular, the politician drew attention to the fact that the authors of the document recommend that each EU country allocate 0.25% of GDP to support Ukraine. He noted that in the case of France, this amount would amount to a lot — €7 billion per year.

In addition, Bardella did not agree with the condemnation of the policy of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban expressed in the resolution.

During his 10-day peacekeeping mission in early July, the head of the Hungarian government held talks with leader Vladimir Zelensky in Kiev, and after that met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow. The Hungarian Prime minister’s third counterpart was Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Orban then flew to Washington, where he held talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Alliance summit, and then went to Florida to visit former US President Donald Trump.

It didn’t come to the experiment

Natalia Eremina, Doctor of Political Sciences, Professor at St. Petersburg State University, in an interview with Izvestia, noted that the far-right parties advocate changing the approach to European integration itself, moreover, they talk about selective participation in European integration for their countries.

— In general, they do not agree with the policy of Brussels, they rather act as sovereignists. Therefore, they are perceived as a threat to the European Union and the Brussels bureaucracy and block opportunities,” the political scientist believes.

The expert explained that the result of the elections to the European Parliament depends on how well the parties perform at the national level.

— The more actively they develop and are represented in legislative institutions at the national level, the more they will be supported, which means they will get more opportunities, — the specialist is sure.

According to the analyst, another problem is that it is quite difficult for parties to enter into negotiations with each other and organize joint factions.

— They themselves compare each other with pro-fascist and neo-Nazi political movements. This leaves an imprint not only on their attitude towards themselves, but also on their attitude towards each other, so they all constantly go through the process of reform, rebranding,” Eremina noted.

According to the political scientist, many of the leaders of these parties are constantly forced to justify themselves and say that they were formed not as parties of the extreme right, neo-Nazi or neo-Fascist persuasion, but as defenders of conservative values and traditions.

— At the same time, mainstream parties are losing the electorate, but these factions are pulling votes away. That’s how they fight them — they accuse them of being neo-Nazi. But despite this, the extreme right is still growing and gradually they will receive more and more votes,” the expert concluded.

Artyom Sokolov, a researcher at the MGIMO Institute of International Studies, noted in an interview with Izvestia that it would be strange if the extreme right forces were allowed to go somewhere.

— The election results proved that, although the parties of the European political mainstream suffered losses, it did not become fatal for them. In general, they will be able to control the situation in the European Parliament and maintain basic control over the European bureaucracy, not allowing opposition forces on both the right and the left to significantly influence the situation,” he explained.

The political scientist added that the high results of the right-wing populists from the mainstream in the elections to the European Parliament were not interpreted by politicians as a consequence of the voters’ request for reforms and a change in the political map of the European Union.

— They interpreted them as the machinations of destructive, mainly external forces, which must continue to be fought uncompromisingly. They believe that it is necessary to better conduct information work with voters, explaining to them that the parties that make up the traditional political forces are the only possible choice for Europeans and the only force capable of ensuring the development and prosperity of the EU, the expert believes.

The expert explained that in the eyes of the mainstream, all other political forces are “hostile to the letter and spirit of European legislation and the European Union as a whole.”

— It would be strange to expect a compromise from the European People’s Party and other associations if they do not see the high results of the opposition forces as impulses for a radical change of political course. They do not want to experimentally put someone from the opposition at the senior levels of the European bureaucracy,” the analyst concluded.