Two majorities in one parliament

The latest debates in the European Parliament centred on the EU Commission's budget plans, which were rejected. In other votes, too, the centre-left majority consisting of the Christian Democratic European People's Party (EPP), the Social Democratic Socialist & Democrats (S&D) and the liberal Renew seems to be losing ground. Majorities of the EPP together with the far-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and the extreme right Patriots for Europe (PfE) are gaining ground. Even the AfD-led Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) group is no longer too far to the right for opportunistic agreements.

In our newsletter #10, we reported that on 24 September, the Patriots for Europe (PfE) group joyfully announced that it had broken through the “cordon sanitaire” – the European version of the firewall. Now, EPP leader Manfred Weber (CSU) is said to have announced before an EPP meeting that they would also seek majorities with the far right on the controversial issue of reducing environmental obligations for companies. This apparently included behind-the-scenes negotiations with the ESN faction, as reported by politico.

Redacción: Ulli Jentsch