The decision, which involves five federalist MEPs, is more bad news for Emmanuel Macron’s liberal Renew coalition.
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The European federalism movement, Volt, which won five MEPs in the recent European elections, has resolved to remain in the Green group in the European Parliament.
The decision, voted on by party members, put an end to rumors that members might join Emmanuel Macron’s centrist party Renew.
Following the June 6-9 EU elections, parties are competing to see who can assemble the largest grouping of parties that will be the conduit for distributing money and influence in parliament.
The decision, which is supported by 87 percent of Boldt members, appears to be driven in part by Renew’s failure to punish the Dutch Democrats for Freedom (VVD), which formed a coalition government with Geert Wilders’ Party for Freedom.
“The credibility to fight this right-wing populism was higher within the Greens,” said Reinier van Lanshoot, a member of the European Parliament from Dutch Vold. “The VVD has not received any sanctions that we consider sufficient.”
This is in line with the Greens’ position that they support von der Leyen being re-elected as European Commission President, as long as she does not go astray by working with figures like Italy’s Giorgia Meloni.
“The direction we want is clear: a continuation of the Green Deal, no backtracking,” Green Party leader Terry Reintke told reporters, adding he wanted to see stronger rule of law and freedoms and for Europe to act geopolitically.
Compete for the largest group
Once the voting had concluded, it was clear that the European People’s Party and the Socialist Party would form the two largest coalition governments in the European Parliament.
But as the talks progress, Renew appears to be losing third place to the right-wing conservative reform group ECR.
Last week, ReNew lost seven deputies from Czech ANO, the party of controversial former prime minister Andrej Babiš, while the ECR picked up six more deputies from the nationalist party, the Alliance of Romanians (AUR).
Renew now has 74 of the 720 MEPs in Parliament, down from 102 before the election, while the ECR has 83. The Greens, who also suffered heavy losses this year, now have 53, including all Volt members.
French President Emmanuel Macron’s EU party has incurred voter anger and is facing further defeat in early parliamentary elections due to begin on June 30.
EU election campaigns typically respond to domestic political issues and often bring eurosceptic parties to the forefront – in contrast to Bolt, who was a vocal pro-European candidate and ran on the same platform in 16 countries.
In the last parliamentary session, Bolt was from the Green party along with one other MEP, Damian Boselager from Germany, but now they are joined by two more MEPs from Germany and two from the Netherlands.
The composition of the group will be confirmed at the council’s first meeting on July 16, but it could change during its five-year term.
Update (June 24, 11:45 AM): Added detailed voting results and quotes from van Lanschot and Reintke.
