The rise of the far right in the European elections on June 9 could relaunch the debate on the cordon santé which, today, deprives the National Rally (RN) and its allies in the European Parliament of positions of power within the institution .
In fact, these training groups gathered within the Identity and Democracy (ID) group are not associated with the work negotiation or amendment that accompanies legislative activity. They also do not have access to one of the fourteen vice-presidencies of the European Parliament, nor to chairs of parliamentary committees, nor to the slightest position of influence within the administration.
The custom in the European Parliament is that these positions are distributed according to the results in the European elections. But the conservatives of the European People’s Party (EPP), the social democrats (S&D), the liberals of Renew, the Greens and the radical left (The Left) have agreed to deprive ID of its theoretical rights. “This European Parliament which spends its life giving lessons in democracy abroad does not respect it at home”, protests Thierry Mariani. The RN MEP sees this “the latest avatar of the strategy of demonizing the extreme right” when, with a few rare exceptions, including Germany, no national parliament in Europe anymore practices the cordon santé.
Major maneuvers
At this stage, in the EPP, the S&D, Renew, the Greens and the Left, we say we want to continue this sidelining of ID after June 9. On the other hand, in the current state of affairs, the group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) should still escape the sanitary cordon, even if the vast majority of the parties it brings together – the Spanish Vox, the Italian Fratelli d’Italia, the French Reconquête!, the Sweden Democrats and the Finns Party – are classified as far right. “Of course, if ID and ECR merge after June 9, that’s another story”recognizes a European diplomat, while the major maneuvers have begun within the European extreme right.
It must be said that, unlike ID, ECR has representatives at the Council table, which brings together the European heads of state and government and where the major political decisions of the Union are taken. Today, we find Giorgia Meloni and the Czech Petr Fiala there. Not long ago, the Pole Mateusz Morawiecki, from PiS, also sat there.
The Left demands “a sanitary cordon for ECR and ID”. “No deal with the fascists!” » , assures its co-president Manon Aubry, of France insoumise. The Greens are on the same line. “ ECR and ID, it’s white hat and white hat”agrees Philippe Lamberts, the co-president of the environmental group.
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