A bold proposal for the European Parliament
- Consul Spiekermann
- 10. Aug.
- 5 Min. Lesezeit
Do you remember the spring of 2017? A wave of hope spread from Paris across all of Europe. Emmanuel Macron, the youngest French head of state since Napoleon Bonaparte, had transformed France’s political landscape in just a few months. With ‘‘La République En Marche!‘‘, he had built a mass movement from the grassroots up and pushed the major established parties to the sidelines. This was no ordinary election. It was a peaceful revolution: Secular, democratic, republican, social-liberal, pragmatic, and unconditionally pro-European.
Unfortunately, Macron has disappointed many. Macron, who began as a social-liberal reformer, is perceived by many as the "president of the rich." Moreover, the brutality with which he suppressed the anti-capitalist Yellow Vests protests, was completely disproportionate. Instead of acknowledging that his re-election in 2022 was only possible thanks to votes from the political Left, Macron, following the snap parliamentary election in 2024, consistently excluded the clear election winners (the New Popular Front alliance, which includes our French Pirate friends) out of power. He instead pursued parliamentary cooperation with the right-wing populist Rassemblement National and, after that failed, has relied on the shaky support of the Conservative Gaullists.
No, Macron’s presidential track record is absolutely not good. Could things have turned out differently? Absolutely! Let us again look back at 2017. "La République En Marche!" managed to unite people from across the progressive spectrum under a single banner. The "Marcheurs" of 2017 included Liberals, Greens, Socialists, Social Democrats, and progressive Gaullists. Initially, "La République En Marche!" embodied the dream of everyone longing for a united progressive front. "La République En Marche!" exerted such a strong pull that many people outside France, including, of course, the Consul, joined the movement. At times, established parties in countries like Germany seriously feared that "La République En Marche!" might establish itself as a powerful political force there too, potentially transforming the traditional party system. However, that did not happen. In the European Parliament, En Marche joined forces with the ALDE Party and the European Democratic Party to found the Renew Europe group.
When a good cause has moved in the wrong direction, it can be worth going back to the beginning. And the beginnings of "La République En Marche!" were absolutely good.
Let‘s rediscover the spirit of 2017. Especially in this dark hour, with a brutal war raging on the European Union’s eastern border and the European Parliament dominated by enemies of European Unity, let us take a bold step in these seemingly hopeless times and provide the European Parliament with a strong, united force for progress, ecology, freedom, civil rights, social justice, and a commitment to a united federal Europe.
Let us conduct a bold thought experiment. Imagine that the Renew Europe and The Greens/European Free Alliance parliamentary groups in the European Parliament would merge. Let us further imagine that the powerful Belgian EFA member party, the New Flemish Alliance, which was part of The Greens/European Free Alliance group between 2009 and 2014, were to return to this new group. And let us also consider the possibility that the new Dutch party, Progressive Netherlands, would opt to join this group. Then we would have a completely new situation in the European Parliament. Overnight, a new second-largest parliamentary group would emerge: Liberal, ecological, pro-European, decentralized, social, progressive, modern, and future-oriented. A parliamentary group capable of sending out a positive and hopeful signal for Europe. A parliamentary group that could truly counter the Eurosceptics, who are unfortunately stronger than ever in the current European Parliament. A positive vision. A vibrant vision of a free, social, and ecological Europe of the Regions.
n September 2007, Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, a liberal German-Greek Member of the European Parliament, proposed a merger between the German Liberals (FDP) and the German Greens. Although the proposal was firmly rejected by both parties, Chatzimarkakis had some very strong arguments. And here in the European Parliament, the issue is not even about a merger of parties; rather, it is about issue-based cooperation to mount a powerful challenge to Euroscepticism and authoritarianism. It is no coincidence that both the European Pirate Party and Volt Europa, also seriously considered joining Renew Europe (respectively ALDE) before ultimately deciding to join THE Greens/European Free Alliance.
There are examples for green-liberal member parties of Renew Europe. The most prominent being the Freedom Movement from Slovenia, which has ruled in a coalition with Social Democrats (former Slovenian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia) and Left Socialists from 2022 to 2026. And a merger of The Greens/European Free Alliance with Renew Europe would also bring unity to the divided family of European Regionalist and Minority Parties. Because many of these are not part of the European Free Alliance, but rather of Renew Europe. Among them are some of the oldest minority parties of Europe, like the Swedish People's Party of Finland and the Basque Nationalist Party. This split does not make sense. And it is not an ideological question. Both in Renew Europe and in the European Free Alliance, there are rather left-wing, centrist and rather right-wing member parties. Of course the European Green Party is a mostly left-wing European political party, but there are also more centrist and even Green Conservative member parties, e.g. the Union of Democrats "For Lithuania". One member party of Renew Europe was highly controversial and could have been a serious obstacle against a merger. That was ‘‘ANO 2011" from the Czech Republic. This party, although it has been part of the liberal family for many years, is considered eurosceptic and right-wing populist, although it has even ruled with the parliamentary support of the Communist Party of Bohemia and Moravia (former Czech branch of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia). After the 2024 European Parliament election, ANO 2011 did not rejoin Renew Europe, but instead joined forces with Rassemblement National, Fidesz, Vlaams Belang, Vox and Lega Nord and other Eurosceptic parties to establish the European Parliament group ''Patriots for Europe''.
So there is no real argument anymore against a merger of the Greens/European Free Alliance with Renew Europe. Let us overcome the hopeless situation in which the European Union currently is. Let us free Europe from stagnation, fear, and the blockade by Eurosceptics. Let us give the European Parliament a new second-largest parliamentary group. A force for hope, freedom, ecological sustainability, and civil rights: For a united Europe of the Regions! As the Minority List of Austria - Danube Federation, we are loyal to the commitment made by our European mother party, the European Pirate Party, to the European Parliament group The Greens/European Free Alliance. And precisely for this reason, we refuse to accept that our parliamentary group in the European Parliament ranks only sixth and is not represented in the current European Commission.
We believe that green, liberal and regionalist voices should carry more weight in the European Union, we are championing the vision of a united Green-Liberal-Regionalist parliamentary group for the European Parliament.
