(ANSA) - ROME, APR 26 - The leader of the liberal group
Renew, Valérie Hayer, is ready to continue the current coalition
with the People's Party and the S&D. However, a coalition with
the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) is out of the
question, she told the European Newsroom.
Unthinkable.
The head of the European Liberals' list for the elections to the
European Parliament next June, Valérie Hayer, ruled out a future
European coalition that includes the Conservative parties and
Reformists (ECR), among them Giorgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia
and the Spanish right wing party Vox.
In an interview with the European Newsroom on Wednesday, Hayer
insisted that for her group it is unthinkable to sit at the
negotiating table with ECR, which she called extreme right in
its entirety. In that assessment she included Italian Prime
Minister Giorgia Meloni personally.
Hayer stands at the forefront of the call for the right to
abortion to be included in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
She challenges in particular the approval of the Italian
Parliament to authorise militant anti-abortion associations to
intervene in abortion clinics to convince women not to have
abortions. "The Italian Parliament has adopted an amendment that
allows anti-abortion militants to intervene in clinics that
perform abortions to discourage women from having an abortion. A
coalition agreement with the ECR, which includes the Fratelli
d'Italia, which includes (tomorrow) Eric Zemmour's Reconquête,
(…), is therefore out of the question," the liberal candidate
said about future coalition arrangements in the EP.
"I am very confident about Renew's position in the next European
Parliament," the 38-year-old French politician, a close
associate of President Emmanuel Macron, said.
Shift to the right in European elections?.
Hayer, who also chairs the Renew group in the European
Parliament, warned that the ultra-conservatives and the extreme
right will be able to add enough seats to form a blocking
minority with their foreseeable gains at the polls on June 9.
"I say to voters throughout Europe: beware of the temptation of
the far right, because the far right wants to unravel Europe, to
undo the European project. It would mean withdrawal, loss of
competitiveness, loss of jobs. It would have meant, under the
mandate we passed, probably no recovery plan that benefited all
our businesses and all our citizens throughout Europe," Hayer
said.
Asked if she extends this warning to her counterpart in the
European People's Party in the European Parliament, , after the
occasions in which the EPP has sought support on its right to
counteract a more progressive majority, Hayer said that she has
"confidence" in the will of the European People's Party to
continue working towards a pro-European coalition. This has been
expressed to Weber himself.
"It is in our DNA to fight against extremes," stressed the
French politician, who said she trusted that the Renew Europe
group will continue to be useful in achieving majorities in the
next legislature. She warned that Renew will not sign any 'blank
cheques' with regard to support for the future nominee to head
the European Commission.
The group's objective after the elections, she said, will be "to
return to European Parliament in the largest possible numbers to
maximise the influence" of the formation and ensure that the
work program of the future Commission focuses on its priorities:
improving the strategic autonomy of the European Commission,
defend competitiveness and support liberal democratic values.
Europe needs 'strategic autonomy'.
"The geopolitical risk, the risk of Trump's return (to the White
House) is a reality. We need to give ourselves the means to
decide for ourselves, as Europeans at the level of the European
Union, to build this strategic autonomy so that we are no longer
dependent on other powers. As we have seen with our energy
supply, we were dependent on Russia. We are no longer dependent
on Russia. [It means] no longer depending on Asia for our
battery supplies, and no longer depending on the United States
for our common defence," Hayer stressed.
Another of the challenges of the next legislature will be, for
Hayer, to build the next phase of the European Green Deal after
having focused the last five years on the design of it. "Now we
have to implement this legislation. Making sure that no one is
left behind, which means supporting and giving opportunities to
our businesses," she explained.
"We are simplifying and speeding up processes, making life
easier for companies that want to develop wind or photovoltaic
energy projects, or electric batteries. We must implement and
create the regulatory and financial conditions so that the
environmental transition becomes a reality and we achieve
climate neutrality by 2050 in all sectors," she said.
(continues).
Photo: picture alliance / Panama Pictures. (ANSA).