Liberals launch campaign for June European elections: “No alliances with the far right”

Brussels –  The European Liberal family’s Renew Europe Now platform is taking shape less than 80 days before the European elections on June 6-9, and it will follow in the footsteps of the European Democratic Party, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party, and French Renaissance. Following the anticipations of recent weeks, the European Liberals’ election campaign was launched this evening (March 20) in Brussels, along with the presentation of the three joint candidates, each for their respective current, who will lead the way to the vote.

There is no common candidate for the three major currents of the European political family of liberals, but in the June European elections, there will be the three candidates of the Renew Europe Now platform who will challenge the Spitzenkandidaten already appointed at the head of the other European parties: Sandro Gozi (PDE), Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann (ALDE) and Valérie Hayer (Renaissance). The European People’s Party (EPP) confirmed with pomp and circumstance the current president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, at the Bucharest Congress on March 7. The European Socialist Party (ESP) opted for the current European Commissioner for Labor and Social Rights, Luxembourger Nicolas Schmit, at the Congress in Rome on March 2. The European Greens chose Germany’s Terry Reintke and the Netherlands’ Bas Eickhout at the Congress in Lyon on February 2-4, and The Left Austria’s Walter Baier at the Congress in Ljubljana on February 23-24.

“I would say to von der Leyen that it is true that all roads lead to Rome, but the road to Rome will not take her far; she should stop chasing Meloni; we are not ready for this alliance with the far right,” Gozi made clear, echoed by Strack-Zimmermann: “The Germans know von der Leyen well.” With a strong message ahead of the polls in the 27 member countries, “Renew Europe is stronger and more united than ever,” is Hayer’s exhortation. For the future, European liberals want to “reform the Union and unify Europe, getting rid of vetoes,” Gozi added, speaking of “a real reform of the Treaties to make Europe ready to assume all its political responsibilities today.”

Liberals in Italy towards the European elections

Renew Europe in Italy affects three parties of the liberal centre: +Europa (ALDE member), Azione and Italia Viva (PDE members). Speaking of the parties led respectively by Carlo Calenda and Matteo Renzi, on the occasion of the Italian general elections in September 2022, the so-called third pole had decided to recall its European identity by including the reference to Renew Europe in the symbol of the electoral agreement between Azione and Italia Viva. The experiment continued in the following months until the break in April 2023 between the two leaders, just when the charter of values, program, and name of the single party was being discussed. Top sources within Renew Europe’s Italian delegation to the EU Parliament then had 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.”

At a time of total uncertainty about how to manage the campaign for the 2024 vote and the alliances among the three liberal parties, the hope within the Italian delegation always remains to improve on the results of the 2022 policies. Going into double digits “would be seen as a success since it would strengthen the number of MEPs in the delegation and make the Italian one of the most consistent within the group. The support of the Renew Europe symbol is seen as “fundamental” since “you cannot separate national and European politics,” report the sources, who reiterate the privileged dialogue with S&D and the PPE and rule out any support for a right-wing alliance in the Euro Parliament.

Italia Viva joins the Renew Europe group as of February 12, 2020, after the exit first of the MEP and now third pole’s head of delegation in the group, Nicola Danti (who took over on September 5 of the previous year from Roberto Gualtieri, appointed minister of Economy in the Conte II government), from the Democratic Party and then of the Renzi-led force from the S&D group. Similar parabola to that of Action and its leader Calenda, elected MEP in 2019 from the ranks of the PD and, after not even six months, left to found his own political force. For two years (since November 2019), Action remained within the S&D group, but on November 17, 2021, it officially joined the Renew Europe group. With Calenda’s election to the Italian Senate, the party remained without representation in Brussels for nearly a year and a half until the entry of ex-M5S Fabio Massimo Castaldo in Action and the Renew Europe group just over a month ago.