Volt, the European federalist movement that secured five MEPs in recent European elections, has voted to stay in the European Parliament’s Green grouping.
The decision, taken by a poll of party members, puts an end to rumours that they might instead join Emmanuel Macron’s centrist Renew party.
After EU elections held 6-9 June, parties are racing to see who can coalesce into the biggest groups – the channel by which funding and influence is distributed within the Parliament.
It was clear as polls closed that the European People’s Party and socialists would constitute the two biggest coalitions in the European Parliament.
But now Renew appears to be losing the race for third place to the right-wing Conservatives and Reformists group, ECR, as talks advance.
Last week, Renew lost seven lawmakers from Czechia’s ANO, the party of controversial former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, while ECR welcomed six more from the nationalist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR).
Renew can now boast 74 of the chamber’s 720 MEPs, down from 102 before the elections, while ECR has 83. Including all Volt members, the Greens – who also suffered heavy losses this year – have 53.
The EU party of France’s President Macron was hammered by an angry electorate, presaging further losses in snap legislative elections set to begin in France on 30 June.
The EU election campaign normally responds to a domestic political agenda, often with eurosceptic parties to the fore. In contrast, Volt took a vociferously pro-European stance, and ran under the same electoral programme in 16 different states.
In the last session, Volt sat in the Greens with a single lawmaker, Germany’s Damian Boeselager, but now has two further MEPs from Germany and two from the Netherlands.
Group memberships will be confirmed at the Parliament’s first meeting on 16 July, but can still evolve over its five-year term.
