Macron’s Hayer and Azmani face off in tight EU liberals’ presidential race

The liberal group in the European Parliament, Renew Europe, will elect its new president next Thursday (25 January) at 8 am, with the two candidates, the French Valérie Hayer and Dutch Malik Azmani, interim group President, as the top contenders.

Renew Europe’s leadership decided on Wednesday afternoon (17 January) at a closed-door meeting to open the electoral battlefield to pick the next group president, after former leader Stéphane Séjourné was appointed as France’s foreign minister on 11 January.

The two standing candidates are French MEP Valérie Hayer and current interim President, Dutch Malik Azmani, two sources close to the matter told Euractiv.

With eight days to the leadership vote, the two candidates have a tight timeframe within which to garner a majority and have already started trying to gather support by contacting MEPs offices, Euractiv understands.

Renaissance’s Hayer represents French President Emmanuel Macron’s pick to ensure his continued influence over the group.

On the other hand, Azmani represents an attempt by ALDE – a European liberal alliance, formed in 1976, which has largely been at odds with Macron-allied newcomers – to regain control of Renew, with some seeing him as the “continuity” candidate since he is already interim president.

Hayer supporters, on the other hand, maintain that she is a better choice for stability and continuity, since she is the political successor of Séjourné.

Macron’s party, Renaissance, took over Renew’s leadership from the other main faction, the ALDE party, in autumn 2021 following Romania’s Dacian Ciolos’ resignation.

The two factions have been competing for the group’s leadership since Macron’s La Republique en Marche movement joined the European Parliament in 2019 and ended ALDE’s fifteen-year-long tenure as the head of the liberals. The fusion of both ALDE and Macron’s party gave place to Renew Europe.

At a time when the far-right is surging across Europe, especially in France, Azmani’s election could spell trouble for Macron, who needs to maintain control over the group to push for French interests at the EU level.