HS Analysis | The largest group in the European Parliament has an unprecedented opportunity to benefit from the far right

Strasbourg

In July the new European Parliament, which has officially started its work, is significantly more right-wing than its predecessor, and the far-right in the parliament is stronger than ever in the institution’s history.

Three far-right groups, ie ECR, patriots and sovereigntists, hold a quarter of the seats.

In the previous election period, the share of far-right groups was 17 percent of the seats, and in addition, there were some far-right parties in non-aligned parties.

Concretely, the strengthening of the far-right can be seen in the fact that after the elections, the liberal group Renew fell from third place to fifth, when two far-right groups, i.e. Patriots and ECR, were wedged in front.

The size of the group matters, because according to the rules of the Parliament, speaking time and funding are allocated based on the number of seats.

But what kind of power does the far right exercise in the European Parliament? Will it manage to leave its mark on the work of the Parliament?

First the point is that the far-right was still not able to unite its forces, and fragmentation will reduce its political weight.

Although the formation of a large far-right group was speculated again during the elections, it did not materialize.

The largest far-right group is Patriots for Europe with 84 representatives. Hungary is the core of the Patriot group Viktor Orbán led by Fidesz and France Marine Le Pen National Alliance.

The second largest of the far-right groups is the conservative and nationalist ECR with 78 representatives. It is headed by the Prime Minister of Italy by Giorgia Meloni Italian brothers and Polish Law and Justice. From Finland, Perussuomalaiset belongs to ECR.

The smallest of the far-right groups is Sovereign Nations Europe, the sovereigntists. It is partly a group formed around the far-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD), which has only 25 representatives.

Although the groups share a lot of common values, above all conservative values, anti-immigration and varying degrees of EU-criticism, the relationship with Russia and support for Ukraine became the most important obstacle to cooperation.

When the parliament voted on support for Ukraine in July of the resolutionthe ECR voted almost unanimously for it, the Patriots and Sovereignists against it.

Secondly the far-right’s power is limited by the fact that other political groups have agreed to exclude some parties from cooperation.

So called Cordon sanitaire applies to patioots and sovereignists. It means that these groups were left without parliamentary leadership positions. ECR, on the other hand, got two positions of the vice president of the parliament. When the parliamentary committees are organized, the sovereignists and patriots will also be left without their leadership positions.

The groups also do not receive significant reporting tasks, i.e. management responsibility for the preparation of legal projects. And if the excluded groups make amendments to the bills, the other groups usually do not vote for them.

So even though the far-right managed to increase its visibility in the European Parliament in the elections, its power is smaller than the number of seats alone would suggest.

This however, it does not mean that the far right cannot get its important goals through.

The biggest question at the start of the election season is whether the centre-right will seek cooperation with the far-right on a case-by-case basis.

The European Parliament’s new power relations open up an unprecedented opportunity for the center-right EPP group to utilize the votes of the far-right in places that suit them.

Unlike the parliament, the European Parliament is not divided into the government and the opposition, but for each bill, negotiations to find a sufficient majority are held on a case-by-case basis. Because of this, the election result opens an exceptionally attractive playing field for the largest group in the parliament, the center-right EPP: it can choose whether to seek its partners from the left or the right.

Environmental and climate regulation in particular is an area where the conservative wing of the EPP, certain representatives of the liberal group and the far right could find common ground.

This is exactly what the left wing of the parliament is afraid of. That is why the social democrats and the greens believe that the president of the commission Ursula von der Leyen the alliance of EPP, liberals, Democrats and greens gathered behind the appointment is more than a one-time arrangement. In their opinion, the vote resulted in a coalition that together will agree on the broad lines of politics for the next five years.

There is a reluctance within the EPP to commit to this. A part of the group dislikes close cooperation with the Greens in particular.

Parliamentary however, power relations alone do not determine the direction of the EU.

The far-right has taken electoral victories in national elections across Europe, as a result of which two other institutions, the European Commission and the Council of Member States, are tilting strongly to the right.

The far-right also has powerful representatives at the negotiating table of EU leaders, the most important of them being Italy’s Meloni and Hungary’s Orbán.

This partly explains why the left of the European Parliament wants to bind the center-right to coalition cooperation. They want to make sure that the European Parliament acts as some sort of brake on the growth of far-right power.