European Parliament Election: May 23-26, 2019

[TheSaint250]

https://twitter.com/alexandersarti/status/1139237629965328386?s=21

[bigic]

But will they even form a group?
The minimum is 25 MEPs from 7 states. M5S's likely ally, the Brexit Party, has more than 25 MEPs alone, so the number of MEPs probably won't be a problem - the number of states is a problem.

In my (not exactly fully informed) opinion, possible partners are (ordered from most likely to least likely):

Italy - M5S 14
Croatia - Živi Zid 1 - certain ally
UK - Brexit Party 29


Belgium - N-VA 3 (there are talks but N-VA might prefer a more mainstream group like the EPP or to stay in the ECR?)
Hungary - Jobbik 1 (if they get rejected from ECR or I&D)
Romania - PRO Romania 2 (considering the flip-flops on the question of EU affiliation from that party I won't be surprised if they end up here)

So they need at least one more country even if all of the parties above join.

[DavidB.]

Belgium - N-VA 3 (there are talks but N-VA might prefer a more mainstream group like the EPP or to stay in the ECR?)

Now that Vox are in ECR, N-VA may leave for that reason. I really don't see them enter a group with Farage though... And they're definitely not entering a group with Jobbik.

[Ethelberth]

Junts I suppose.

[Former President tack50]

Junts I suppose.

I believe JxCat has applied to join the G/EFA group (alongside ERC). Not sure if their application will be successful, but it is a possibility. N-VA was in that group for a while after all

Though seeing Puigdemont and Farage belong to the same Eurogroup would be hilarious

[Tender Branson]

The Austrian results were made official & certified today.

The following people have won seats in the next EU parliament:

Mag. Karoline Edtstadler - (ÖVP)
Dr. Othmar Karas - (ÖVP)
Mag. Dr. Angelika Winzig - (ÖVP)
Simone Schmiedtbauer - (ÖVP)
Mag. Lukas Mandl - (ÖVP)
Barbara Thaler - (ÖVP)
Dipl.-Ing. Alexander Bernhuber - (ÖVP)
Mag. Andreas Schieder - (SPÖ)
Mag. Evelyn Regner - (SPÖ)
Mag. Dr. Günther Sidl - (SPÖ)
Mag. Dr. Bettina Vollath - (SPÖ)
Hannes Heide - (SPÖ)
Harald Vilimsky - (FPÖ)
Heinz-Christian Strache - (FPÖ)
Mag. Dr. Georg Mayer, M.B.L. HSG - (FPÖ)
Mag. Werner Kogler - (GRÜNE)
Sarah Wiener - (GRÜNE)
Claudia Gamon - (NEOS)

Strache will likely not take his seat now, after the FPÖ offered his wife Philippa a secure spot on the Vienna list for the coming federal election and Strache a return in 2020, to become frontrunner for the Vienna state election (if the corruption prosecution eventually finds nothing regarding the Ibiza-scandal).

https://derstandard.at/2000104866649/Philippa-Strache-soll-fuer-den-Nationalrat-kandidieren

Also: Werner Kogler announced today that he will not take his seat in the EP and instead he will become the Green frontrunner in the federal election.

https://orf.at/stories/3126769

That means Petra Steger (FPÖ) and Monika Vana (Greens) will replace the two guys and the Austrian delegation will be 10-8 female instead of 10-8 male.

[TheSaint250]

How is Petra Steger policy-wise compared to her father?

[Tender Branson]

How is Petra Steger policy-wise compared to her father?

More extreme and more in line with the modern FPÖ I would say on immigration/crime etc.

I have not heard a lot about Norbert, her father recently, other than that he's sitting in the public broadcaster ORF as an FPÖ-representative.

Petra Steger often speaks at FPÖ campaign events to fire up the crowd with anti-immigrant slogans.

[Zinneke]

Junts I suppose.

I believe JxCat has applied to join the G/EFA group (alongside ERC). Not sure if their application will be successful, but it is a possibility. N-VA was in that group for a while after all

Though seeing Puigdemont and Farage belong to the same Eurogroup would be hilarious

N-VA are still a part of the EFA organisation, just not the grouping because they obviously vote differently to the Greens so it helps policy makers and them.

I think Farage and his Kippers have actually always been supportive of Catalonia, he made several speeches. Its Puigdemont who needs to consider whether he would want to be associated with someone like that.

Really disappointed ECR accept Vox though. Zarodil's pan-European ''campaign'' was actually not that bad, a sensible Eurosceptic position a lot like Rutte's. Now they accept bread and butter neo-fascist sympathisers and immature provocateurs.

[Velasco]

Really disappointed ECR accept Vox though. Zarodil's pan-European ''campaign'' was actually not that bad, a sensible Eurosceptic position a lot like Rutte's. Now they accept bread and butter neo-fascist sympathisers and immature provocateurs.

I think Vox joined ECR due to the good relationship and the huge affinity that exists between the Spanish party and the PiS. They share a similar ultra-conservative social agenda.

Junts or JxCAT, the Puigdemont party, is the heir of CDC. The latter was the major partner of the CiU coalition in Catalonia and used to seat with the ALDE in the EP. Currently the Spanish represrntative in the group of the EU Liberals is Cs. However Emmanuel Macron is developing a good working relationship with Pedro Sánchez,  as both have a similar vision of Europe. The Macron people is increasingly uncomfortable with the deals between Cs, PP and Vox at regional and local levels in Spain. They tolerated the deal in Andalusia, but in case Vox enters local or regional governnents or gets more visibility, that would be more difficult to accept by the French counterparts. A LREM spokeswoman said in Paris said they could reconsider the relationship with Cs due to the deals with the far right in Spain, although she also said that Cs is still their partner and they won't make hasty decisions. Le Monde correspondent in Spain also criticized the cynical approach of Cs in its relations with Vox: oranges are no longer fooling anyone. The moves of Manuel Valls in Barcelona and his imminent rupture with Cs are not unrelated

[TheSaint250]

https://twitter.com/EuropeElects/status/1139599309387816960

[bigic]

That's 21 MEPs and 4 countries - even the PNV-ALDE relationship has soured? Including Croatia's Živi Zid that's 22 MEPs and 5 coutries. 2 more countries and 3 more MEPs needed.

[Former President tack50]

That's 21 MEPs and 4 countries - even the PNV-ALDE relationship has soured? Including Croatia's Živi Zid that's 22 MEPs and 5 coutries. 2 more countries and 3 more MEPs needed.

For what's worth, back during the general election campaign Cs did extremely harsh attacks on PNV and the special Basque economic regime. Cs is arguably more pro-centralism than even PP, who in some regions still mainains a somewhat decentralized image (most notably their Galicia branch and what little remains of the Basque PP branch)

https://twitter.com/CiudadanosCs/status/1119168760080846848

[raymundoflx]

We are over one year away from the European Parliament elections throughout the EU, so it’s time for a thread!

[Antonio the Sixth]

We are over one year away from the European Parliament elections throughout the EU, so it’s time for a thread!

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

We are over one year away from the European Parliament elections throughout the EU, so it’s time for a thread!

I think it's a joke about how people on here will sometimes start a thread on an election 3 years before it's actually going to take place.

[Tender Branson]

We are over one year away from the European Parliament elections throughout the EU, so it’s time for a thread!

I think it's a joke about how people on here will sometimes start a thread on an election 3 years before it's actually going to take place.

Or people like me, who do not start a thread 3 years or 4 years before an election - but who have a rolling, continued thread ...

[Velasco]

We are over one year away from the European Parliament elections throughout the EU, so it’s time for a thread!

EP elections 2024: The Revenge of the Sith

_{Also starring: Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson}

We are over one year away from the European Parliament elections throughout the EU, so it’s time for a thread!

I think it's a joke about how people on here will sometimes start a thread on an election 3 years before it's actually going to take place.

Or people like me, who do not start a thread 3 years or 4 years before an election - but who have a rolling, continued thread ...

#tenderposting

[Former President tack50]

We are over one year away from the European Parliament elections throughout the EU, so it’s time for a thread!

EP elections 2024: The Revenge of the Sith

_{Also starring: Nigel Farage and Boris Johnson}

Looking at  how Brexit is being handled, I would not be surprised to see PM Boris Johnson and MEP Nigel Farage still there by 2024 lol

[Velasco]

LREM, the party of French president Emmanuel Macron, will demand the Cs MEPs to clarify the relationship between the Spanish allied party and Vox, reports El País. The French Secretary for European Affairs Amélie de Montchalin proposes the adoption of a "chart of common values" that excludes alliances between the member parties of ALDE / Renew Europe and the far right.

https://elpais.com/politica/2019/06/16/actualidad/1560711532_273730.html

[Tender Branson]

Strache will not take his EU parliament seat.

[Swedish Rainbow Capitalist Cheese]

Strache will not take his EU parliament seat.

Are you sure this huge development don't deserve its own thread?

[Diouf]

Estonia's government has moved quickly on naming the country's next commissioner, with a proposal from prime minister Juri Ratas to submit Centre Party minister, Kadri Simson, as a candidate approved on Thursday

https://euobserver.com/tickers/145103

Are other commissioners already known?

[Helsinkian]

Estonia's government has moved quickly on naming the country's next commissioner, with a proposal from prime minister Juri Ratas to submit Centre Party minister, Kadri Simson, as a candidate approved on Thursday

https://euobserver.com/tickers/145103

Are other commissioners already known?

Jutta Urpilainen (SDP) will be the commissioner from Finland.

[Former President tack50]

Today was the day when the Spanish MEPs were supposed to swear in. As expected, the 2 JxCat MEPs (Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín, in so-called exile in Belgium) and one of ERC's 2 MEPs (Oriol Junqueras, currently on jail) were not allowed to swear in.

Horribly biased sources, but it's not like there are many in English:

https://www.elnacional.cat/en/news/oriol-junqueras-catalan-prisoner-mep_394714_102.html

https://www.elnacional.cat/en/news/puigdemont-comin-madrid-meps-swear-constitution_394432_102.html