Good morning from Brussels, The announcement of the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) that they have become the third largest group in the European Parliament - as new members joined, overtaking liberal Renew - makes the EU top job equation tougher to solve. The ECR gained some new members, such as the Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), growing from 77 seats to 83. However, it lost the possibility of being joined by Hungary’s Fidesz party, as Prime Minister Viktor Orbán considers AUR “anti-Hungarian.” Both ECR and Renew eye the position of the EU’s chief diplomat. According to the seemingly dominant scenario, the EU diplomacy leadership was set aside for Estonia’s liberal Prime Minister Kaja Kallas. However, if the hard-right conservatives remain in third place by the time all political groups are organised over the coming weeks, it may impact the nomination, as ECR will have more political weight. Sources from Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party (ECR) in Brussels already told Euractiv Italy that the Italian leader is hesitant about nominating Kallas for the EU diplomacy leadership position. Meanwhile, Euractiv reported in Tuesday’s The Capitals edition that the centre-right EPP leaders also wanted to hear more from Kallas regarding foreign policy matters other than Russia and Ukraine. Aurélie Pugnet and Magnus Lund Nielsen have the story. Politically, the possibility of ECR joining the pro-EU “trio” (centre-right EPP, EU socialists and liberal Renew) in the talks makes things even more complex. Both socialists and liberals have excluded any collaboration with members from the hard or far right. Particularly, the EU socialists have said they cannot sit around the same table if ECR members, such as Meloni, are present. EPP’s candidate, Ursula von der Leyen, needs the support of EU socialists and liberals in the European Parliament to be reelected as EU Commission president. Von der Leyen has also said she wants to stick to the pro-EU coalition, although she was open to collaboration with some ECR members before the elections. In the meantime, the head of the AUR delegation, Claudiu Tarziu, told Euractiv that now that they have joined the ECR, they will start bilateral talks with their partners in the ECR and the far-right ID group “to maintain a firm line against a second mandate of Mrs von der Leyen.” What remains to be seen is whether Meloni plays the hard card to get a big portfolio for Italy in the next Commission or try to position the hard-right ECR as a key political force. | 
