Good morning from Paris, The President of France’s far-right Rassemblement national, Jordan Bardella, told business leaders on Thursday that if appointed prime minister after the snap elections, he would cut the country’s contribution to the EU budget by “€2 to €3 billion”. This statement came after the European Commission launched a deficit procedure against Paris earlier this week for breaching the bloc’s fiscal rules. “There is no reason why we should be asking everyone to cut spending […] but not ask that EU operating spending be cut too,” Bardella said. France’s cash contribution to Brussels is the second largest in the EU, amounting to approximately 18.5%. Bardella’s statement triggered the reaction of Siegfried Mureşan, European Parliament’s general rapporteur for the 2024 EU budget. Mureşan, a Romanian centre-right politician (EPP), said the statement reminded him of the “false claims made by those calling for a UK exit”. “Absolutely no change can be made before 2027,” he told Euractiv, confirming that from a legal point of view, Bardella’s intention is not feasible. Théo Bourgery-Gonse reports from Paris. EU post-election latest developments Meanwhile, in Brussels, the political landscape following the EU elections keeps changing. The German far-right AfD has set its eyes on creating its own parliamentary group, abandoning plans to seek readmission into the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament. However, for Polish far-right Confederation MEP Anna Bryłka, forming a new far-right group is unlikely. The five newly elected MEPs from the pan-European movement Volt have recommended that party members stay with the Greens’ group due to worries that the liberal Renew Europe group is too soft on member parties’ dealings with the far-right. The EU Socialists are currently holding in-house negotiations, while outgoing Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius, newly elected as a Green MEP, is positioning himself as the bridge between his group and the centre-right EPP.
Last but not least, small German parties have become a power factor in new EU parliament. | 