Will she stay or will she be expelled or suspended? The fate of the party’s only MEP Swedish liberal, Karin Karlsbro, within the Renew group of the Parliament of Strasbourg, is in play since the participation of her party in the new government formed in Stockholm with the support of the far right. After a long meeting of the office of the parliamentary group chaired by the macronist Stéphane Séjourné, Tuesday, October 18, the decision was postponed until Wednesday afternoon. “All options are on the table. But the president of the group could propose the exclusion of this party from all the activities of the group”ensures the Monde a source familiar with the discussions.
The program of the Swedish government coalition was in fact co-written by Jimmie Akesson’s extreme right (the Democrats of Sweden). This alliance has aroused the anger of European liberals, in whose group the French delegation, with the elected Macronists in particular, is numerically the largest. “Our group was based on the fight against populists and the extreme right, recalled Stéphane Séjourné, Tuesday in front of the press in Strasbourg. (…) The situation is absolutely unsatisfactory. »
“If this MEP remains within Renew, Renew will be complicit in the entry of the far right into the EU institutions”, Iratxe Garcia, president of the social and democratic group
While Manfred Weber, the German president of the conservative group of the European People’s Party (EPP), was delighted to have, with Ulf Kristersson, a new prime minister from his ranks, Iratxe Garcia, the Spanish president of the social and democratic group, s took on Renew. “If this MEP remains within Renew, Renew will be complicit in the entry of the far right into the institutions of the European Union”, she attacked.
The personality of M.me Karlsbro is not in question, assures Mr. Séjourné: “I have no problem with the member who represents this party today in my group. He is someone who has values and who has always fought against extremes (…). I am very comfortable with her and with her convictions. » But the question of a suspension or an exclusion of the deputy is nonetheless posed, and it divides the European liberal family.
It also divides the Swedish Liberals. In a letter to the Renew group in mid-September after the election, Liberal leader Johan Pehrson said his party had no choice: “Given the results of the elections and the choices of the other parties, the only way to obtain a majority in the Riksdag [le Parlement suédois] is that the coalition partners are trying to reach an agreement with the Swedish Democrats to support the government. »
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