Representatives of seven European far-left parties announced the creation of a new pan-European party, the European Left Alliance, on Tuesday (15 October) while stating that the existing parliamentary group would see no change.
Pan-European parties and political groups in the European Parliament are not necessarily linked. The creation of the European Left Alliance means the political forces on the far left will split into two different political groupings, as the European Left remains.
Party officials have denied that the split would have any implications for the group in the European Parliament.
“It is a cooperation platform for our parties, which we need beyond the European Union, the European Parliament agenda,” Malin Björk, a former MEP and member of the Swedish Left Party, said about the new far-left European party.
“We have no intention of creating a new [group] in the parliament,” she added.
The new party includes Spain’s Podemos, Portugal’s Bloco de Esquerda, the Swedish Left Party, La France Insoumise, Poland’s Razem, the Finnish Left Alliance and Denmark’s Red-Green Alliance.
Some of them, such as Finnish, Portuguese and Danish member parties, started to leave the European Left in August.
“It is a process of professionalisation,” a source close to the negotiations told Euractiv back in the summer.
Manon Aubry, a member of La France Insoumise and co-chair of The Left in the parliament, made it clear that the parties seek to influence. “We are here to govern,” she told reporters on Tuesday.
Differences of opinion on Russia’s war in Ukraine emerged as a key reason for creating an alternative to the European Left party, with the new Alliance showing stronger support for Ukraine. Speakers also highlighted the urgency of addressing issues such as workers’ rights, climate change, and social justice in the press conference.
“For us, it is about building a new, more united European left than about leaving something behind,” Jussi Saramo from the Finnish Left Alliance told reporters.
While some parties have left the European Left, others have never been part of a pan-European political party.
This is the case of Poland’s Razem. Zofia Malisz of the Polish far-left party highlighted how challenging uniting progressive left-wing forces had been “in a region with authoritarian tendencies and a post-communist past.”
Organising a European party allows national parties to access EU funds for campaigning and other political activities. According to parliamentary records, the biggest European party, the European People’s Party (EPP), could receive as much as €13.5 million in EU funding in 2024.
The new European Left Alliance could receive funding as soon as next week, Aubry said on Tuesday.
On the other side of the hemicycle, far-right parties are also regrouping in new party formations following the EU elections in June.
Records from the parliament’s website show that Patriots for Europe (PfE) are working towards taking over from the defunct Identity and Democracy party.
Similarly, far-right parties from Germany, France and Bulgaria have registered a new pan-European grouping to underpin the Europe of Sovereign Nations group in the parliament.
[Edited by Rajnish Singh]
Source: euractiv.com
