Macron establishes ‘New Europeans’: group to reunite fragmented EU liberals | Abroad
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French President Emmanuel Macron wants to encourage European liberal civil society to unite with his newly established association. In this way, he is forging a new alliance on the European stage in an attempt to unite the liberal forces in the EU.
New Europeans, that is the name of the association founded this month under French law by Renaissance, Macron’s political party. The association will bring together the French party with other French, Romanian, Slovenian, Polish and Danish parties. This would involve 22 Members of the European Parliament. They see it as a first step to bring all liberal forces together under one roof after the elections.
Macron’s Renaissance party has not joined or founded a European-level party since first sending members to the European Parliament in 2019. New Europeans is also not a political party. The members see it as a first step towards setting up a party. Many agree that the Liberals could work together more efficiently as one political party. In addition, the creation of a party at European level would also give the French Renaissance party access to millions of euros in EU funding from the European budget.
We want to convince everyone to join one European political party. The message is that we unite and that will make us stronger.
Gilles Boyer, French Member of the European Parliament and treasurer of the New Europeans association
It is unclear what role the French president will play in New Europeans, although his official status as leader of the Liberals will count.
Alliance against the extreme right
Renaissance MPs, along with Boyer and liberals from other countries, are in a group called Renew Europe, which is currently Parliament’s third-largest force with 102 members. The liberal members of the European Parliament who belong to the group come from two liberal parties at EU level: the classical liberal bloc called Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party (ALDE), an alliance between European liberals and democrats which was dominated for a long time by the Dutch politician Mark Rutte (VVD) and the European Democratic Party (EDP).
With the far right on the rise ahead of the June European elections, the fragmentation of liberal parties at European level could weaken them. “If you want to form a bloc against the extreme right, you have to stand your ground. We send that message,” says Polish Michal Kobosko (Polska 2050), who is also chairman of the New Europeans association.
Also dissatisfied liberals
However, the new group threatens to antagonize the established, sometimes more right-oriented parts of the liberals, such as ALDE. It turns out that some parties in the liberal grouping were therefore not happy with Renaissance’s proposal. Ilhan Kyunchyuk, co-chairman of ALDE, is also dismissive of the new venture. “It is an association and not a political party. I focus on my own things. Forming a major party will happen one day, but currently the focus is on the European election campaign,” said the Bulgarian.
Although New Europeans – registered as Les Nouveaux Européens in France – wants to keep a low profile and claims they have held talks with their partners, the move came as a surprise to some members of their political family.
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