Talking Europe speaks to the head of the centrist Renew group in the European Parliament, Valérie Hayer, who recently led the EU election campaign in France on behalf of President Macron’s political bloc. We dissect the all-important vote on July 18 on Ursula von der Leyen’s potential second term as EU Commission’s president, and what Renew’s expectations of her are. On the political deadlock in France, Hayer urges politicians to take a leaf out of the EU parliament’s book when it comes to building coalitions and finding compromise. Hayer is also very outspoken on what the Hungarian prime minister called his “peace mission” to Kyiv, Moscow, Beijing and Washington. Hayer says what Viktor Orban is doing is “completely unacceptable,” and that it cannot be done “in the name of Europe.” 

“We have a real political problem here. We knew that his (rotating presidency of the EU) would be like no other,” Hayer says, adding, “With my group, I request that the heads of state and government take their legal and political responsibilities, and ask Orban to stop doing what he is doing in our name.” Would she be in favour of ending Orban’s rotating presidency before the six-month stint officially ends? “I think so,” Hayer replies. “We should find a political way for him not to hold that responsibility anymore. And if that’s not possible, for political or legal reasons, let’s see how we can manage him and challenge him.” 

Concerning the secret ballot that will decide the political future of Ursula von der Leyen, Hayer says that her group has had a “very constructive exchange” with the EU Commission president. “We welcomed the decision to propose her as candidate for re-election. But this is not a blank cheque,” she states. “We requested two things. First, the priorities regarding competitiveness, rule of law, defence and security, and climate issues. And also, we want her and political family to be absolutely clear on not doing any deal with the far right in the European Parliament.” 

Did she receive such a guarantee from von der Leyen?  “She had a very clear answer,” Hayer says. “No deal with the European Conservatives and Reformists. No formalised deal with the ECR. She has discussions with some of them, but there is no deal, and that’s important.” 

On the losses suffered by Renew and centrists in the June EU election, Hayer affirms, “I would have preferred to have more seats, and I fought for that. We have gained three members in the last few days and we are now at 77 members, and I will try to have more colleagues. But the important thing is that we are the bridge between the European People’s Party and the Socialists in the European parliament. No majority can be done without the bridge. So it means the right needs us and the left needs us too.” 

Hayer also weighs in on the French parliamentary election, which was triggered by President Macron on the night of the European election when he lost heavily to the far-right National Rally. “The reality is that nobody won the election. No bloc has an absolute majority in the National Assembly. French politicians should look at what we do in the European parliament. That is not a practice at the national level. We don’t do coalitions in France – it’s not in our political culture. So French politicians should say, ‘look, we are all pro-European democrats; let’s speak together to try to find a way to work together’,” Hayer says. 

Programme prepared by Sophie Samaille, Perrine Desplats, Isabelle Romero and Elitsa Gadeva