French President Emmanuel Macron, seen with his wife Brigitte, will try to form a broad centrist coalition within the EU parliamentPARIS - French President Emmanuel Macron tasted defeat in European elections, but not disaster, and is set to continue pushing both his pro-EU agenda and a re-alignment of parties in the EU parliament. The 41-year-old's priority will now be trying to increase his influence in the European parliament where LREM and its centrist allies will send 23 MEPs, the same number as Le Pen's RN. His long-standing objective is to re-draw the political map of the European parliament, long dominated by the centre-right EPP grouping and the centre-left S&D -- in the same way as he broke the stranglehold of France's traditional parties. Lamberts, co-leader of the Greens, delivered a caustic speech to Macron when he visited the European parliament in April last year, saying he had betrayed France's values of liberty, equality and fraternity. Some analysts see the ALDE grouping as increasing its influence in the new parliament, but as remaining a distinct group along with the Greens.

Source: Bangkok Post May 27, 2019 12:00 UTC