In Brussels, the head of the liberal Renew group has warned that the European Union could face ungovernability if far-right parties perform strongly in the upcoming June European Parliament election, as they did in the November Dutch vote and as predicted by opinion polls.
Leading the charge are far-right parties such as Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in France and Matteo Salvini’s League in Italy, both of which are expected to gain ground in the upcoming election with promises to toughen immigration policy and relax climate regulations.
“With the rise of populists almost everywhere in Europe of the extreme right, we risk having an ungovernable Europe,” said Stéphane Séjourné, leader of the centrist Renew Europe group, on Tuesday.
Five years ago, the Renew, the centre-right European People’s Party, and the centre-left Socialists and Democrats group formed a coalition to establish broad policy outlines and allocate high-ranking EU positions. Together, they hold 420 out of 705 seats in parliament.
However, the victory of anti-immigration populist Geert Wilders in the Dutch election has served as a warning to mainstream politicians. In France, President Emmanuel Macron’s party, which comprises a quarter of Renew, lags 8-10 percentage points behind far-right leader Marine Le Pen’s party.
“The risk is that it could prove very difficult to form a majority,” Séjourné told journalists.
The French lawmaker categorically dismissed the possibility of forming an alliance with the far-right or with the eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists group, which includes Poland’s Law and Justice party that has been clashing with Brussels for eight years. He also expressed doubt about the Greens group.
Séjourné suggested that mainstream parties should highlight the EU agreement on hosting migrants and shift the focus to other topics, such as the green and digital transitions and defense.
(Reporting by Philip Blenkinsop; Editing by Ros Russell)
