Silvia Martínez / Estrasburgo Martes – 14/01/2020
The incorporation of Carles Puigdemont and Toni Comín to the group formed by the Greens and the European Free Alliance (ALE) in the European Parliament, who have requested to join, is not guaranteed. The group’s co-chairman, Philip Lamberts, publicly showed his reluctance to include these two new MEPs on Tuesday because he believes they have values that are opposite to those of the group. “For us the situation is a problem so we will have conversations in the coming weeks to reach a position,” he explained.
Lambert considers that it is “incongruous” that Puigdemont and Comín constantly rely on “their best Belgian friends” of the New Flemish Alliance (the Flemish nationalist party) but at the same time joining a group like the one formed by the Greens and ALE, the group in which ErC sits or the Scottish SNP. “I think that logic should lead to sitting in the group of his best friends,” he said in reference to the European Conservatives and Reformists in which the Polish ultraconservatives, the N-VA or the Spanish Vox ultra-right party are banked.
In statements to El Periódico, the Belgian environmentalist has also shaved the behavior of Catalan former President by the fact that “never” has made direct contact with him despite wanting to join the group that co-chairs with the German Ska Keller. “What is surprising is that Puigdemont and Comín, who speak with ALE, have not contacted us. Never The 5 Star Movement (which has also put its request from the Greens) from the beginning speak to us and behave in a completely correct way ”, he has reproached in a hard tone, stressing that he lives in Brussels and that it had not been difficult. “I live in a country called Belgium and it is not huge. I think Puigdemont can easily ask for my phone and, if it is so important for them to approach the Greens, we would have felt it.”
Decision in two or three weeks
In his opinion, for Puigdemont the most important thing from the beginning has been to be “extremely close to the N-VA”, a party that he sees increasingly closer to the extreme right. “The position of ErC is clear. They want to join the group. But that is not evident. A priori we are not favorable to this hypothesis. I respect ErC and I know that they do not want to be bad to comrades with Puigdemont and Comin but it is not automatic that these people join the group, ”he added reiterating that from his personal opinion it is not logical.
The decision will take place in the coming weeks. As he explained, they will first hold a meeting next week in Brussels to “deepen the discussion” and hopes that “in two or three weeks” he has made a decision. The co-president of the Greens is aware of how big a group has more weight in the hemicycle but also understands the most important thing is not size but political coherence.
“I am not happy to see that the group will become the fifth or sixth group if the (Hungarian) Fidesz joins the ECR, which is not a disposable hypothesis, but if to gain size we lose coherence I will spend half the time to explain why in the group there are political divergences. ” It is said what explains the prudence of the Greens before the eventual incorporation of M5S and, above all, of Puigdemont and Comín.
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