Czech party deals blow to Emmanuel Macron’s group in EU parliament

Emmanuel Macron’s centrist group in the European parliament has suffered another blow as it lost seven members from the Czech Republic, consolidating the lead of the ultraconservatives as the third-largest caucus.

The ANO party run by Czech billionaire and former Eurosceptic Prime Minister Andrej Babiš on Friday announced it was leaving Renew Europe because of its pro-European policies.

Babiš said he opposed Renew’s push for greater EU integration and its alleged desire to “suppress small and medium-sized states and their identity and culture”.

Macron’s Renaissance party received a drubbing from the far right Rassemblement National in EU elections on June 9, prompting the French president to dissolve the national parliament and call a snap vote, which will take place on June 30 and July 7.

The French president’s centrist group in the EU assembly initially came in third, but dropped into fourth position earlier this week, when the hard right European Conservatives and Reformists led by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni announced they had recruited more MEPs. Without ANO’s seven MEPs, the gap between Renew and the ECR has now widened to nine seats in the 720-strong assembly.

As leader of Europe’s third-largest political force, Meloni has demanded a seat at the table negotiating EU’s top jobs and setting the legislative agenda for the next five years.

Macron and leaders from the centre-left and the centre-right snubbed her at a first meeting last week when agreeing on a tentative line-up of top jobs. Meloni lambasted the stitch-up and said she was working to build an “alternative front to the left” ahead of a second summit on the topic due next week.

Meloni’s point man in the EU parliament, Nicola Procaccini, told journalists the ECR did not want to strike a deal with the centrist majority that includes Renew, but rather influence policy in specific areas through votes in parliament. 

The three parties — Renew, the centre-right European People’s party and the Socialists and Democrats — that together have a majority in the EU assembly are close to a deal for Ursula von der Leyen’s second term as commission president, according to diplomats.

They also favour former Portuguese socialist prime minister António Costa as the European Council president, who chairs meetings of EU leaders, and Estonia’s liberal premier Kaja Kallas as the bloc’s next chief diplomat. Meloni has signalled her opposition to Kallas on the grounds that the job should go to someone from the hard right.

The relationship between ANO and Renew had worsened in recent months.

Valérie Hayer, Renew’s parliamentary leader, said the divorce was “long overdue”.

“ANO has chosen a populist path that is incompatible with our values and identity,” she said on Friday. “Over the past month, their divergence from our values has increased exponentially and we witnessed this with great concern.”

However, ANO’s defection puts more pressure on Hayer, Macron’s choice to lead the campaign for the EU vote which turned into a disaster for his party. She faces re-election as Renew group leader on Tuesday. 

Hayer has already had to dial down her criticism of the Dutch Renew member, VVD, for forming a coalition government with the far right. A debate on the VVD’s membership of the group was scrapped, in a sign that Hayer is trying to prevent further defections. 

Babiš, a populist politician who served as prime minister until 2021, has consolidated power in the Czech Republic and was acquitted last year in a fraud case linked to EU funds received by one of his many businesses.

Renew condemned the former Czech PM last year for appearing at the CPAC conservative conference organised by Hungary’s Viktor Orbán.

Babiš told a press conference in Prague that he opposed Renew’s positions on migration and green policies. He said he would announce in two weeks which group his MEPs would join but ruled out the ECR.

He could form a partnership with Orbán, whose Fidesz party is not affiliated with any group and who has already said he would not join the ECR.

Orbán and Babiš would need parties from five more countries to form a new group, by July 15.