KEEP TRACK OF DEVELOPMENTS IN THE EU INSTITUTIONS WITH OUR MOVERS AND SHAKERS COLUMN

Parliament’s largest political group, the EPP, now holds 11 fewer seats following the departure of its Fidesz members. MEPs from Hungary’s Fidesz party announced their resignation directly following a vote by the centre-right faction that amended its Rules of Procedure with 148 votes in favour, 28 against and 4 abstentions. These rules, which pertain to membership of the group and circumstances under which suspensions and exclusions can take place, allow the EPP to suspend or remove entire party delegations.

Although Fidesz had been suspended from the group since early 2019, its MEPs had continued to enjoy the rights and privileges of being associated with Parliament’s largest faction. However, the EPP will remain the biggest group in the European Parliament, with 175 out of the chamber’s total of 705. Meanwhile the Socialists and Democrats, Parliament’s second largest group, hold 145 seats.

While the EPP has seen its numbers shrink, the ECR group has welcomed a new member: Italian MEP Vincenzo Sofo. The former Identity and Democracy member, who joined Parliament in February 2020 as a ‘Brexit MEP’, has said that his decision comes at a time when the EU is facing “one of the most difficult periods in its history, not only from an economic point of view, but also from a social and cultural point of view”. According to Sofo, the EU must be “profoundly changed to be preserved” and the ECR group are the ones most able to carry out this task. The group now holds 63 seats in Parliament.

In further Parliament news, MEPs voted to lift the parliamentary immunity of Catalonia’s former regional head of government, Carles Puigdemont (NI), and two former cabinet members, Toni Comín (NI) and Clara Ponsatí (NI) at the opening of March’s plenary session. All three MEPs are subject to European arrest warrants issued by Spain following Catalonia’s independence attempt in 2017. Puigdemont’s immunity was lifted by 400 votes to 248, while those of Toni Comín and Clara Ponsatí were removed by 404 votes to 247.

Finally, Italian former Five Star Movement MEP Marco Zullo has joined the Renew Europe group. Zullo is the fifth MEP to leave the Five Star Movement, less than two years after the 2019 elections, however the other four MEPs - Ignazio Corrao, Eleonora Evi, Piernicola Pedicini and Rosa D’Amato - joined the Greens/EFA group earlier in the year.