A bitter war of words has erupted over recent overtures the leader of the Socialists in the European parliament made to Guy Verhofstadt’s ALDE group.
It follows the emergence of a letter Socialist leader Gianni Pittella sent to his ALDE counterpart in the run up to last week’s contest to elect a new president in the parliament.
The letter, seen by this website, is believed to have been sent last Tuesday (17 January) to all Socialist and ALDE group MEPs.
In it, the Italian deputy appears to be seeking the last minute support of ALDE members for his candidacy for the presidency with what he calls an “honest offer.”
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The approach came despite Pittella having previously scrapped the “grand coalition” with the EPP under which the presidency is normally shared between the two biggest groups. He said he preferred an “open” presidential election and “no more backroom deals.”
The appeal for “political convergence” between the Parliament’s Socialist and Liberal MEPs was rebuffed by the ALDE hierarchy and, on Wednesday, the EPP candidate, Italian MEP and ex EU commissioner Antonio Tajani, was elected president for the next two and a half years by an absolute majority.
His victory came after ALDE agreed to enter into a “pro-European” pact with the EPP group, parliament’s biggest. Under this, the two groups agreed to pursue a centre-right alliance in the second half of the legislature and that ALDE would back Tajani for the presidency. Group leader Guy Verhofstadt had earlier withdrawn his candidacy for the post.
The letter to MEPs from Pittella, who eventually finished runner up to Tajani with 282 votes, reads:
“Dear Colleagues,
“I am writing to you to express my surprise at the fact that my honest offer to Guy Verhofstadt was never taken into consideration nor submitted to your attention. Guy was the first person with whom I spoke with and discussed a possible political convergence of our respective groups on a common political platform.
“I presented to him additional elements such as: the maintenance of the status quo for the positions in the house, the confirmation of Guy's role as negotiator on behalf of the Parliament for Brexit. In addition, I also proposed him the chairmanship of a working group set up by the Italian and Maltese presidency on follow up to the 60th anniversary of the Rome conference on the future of the EU.
Lastly, I suggested allocating to the ALDE group the chairmanship of a special inquiry committee on corruption.”
The letter went on, “Dear colleagues, Europe is at crossroads. We therefore need to increase the democratic dynamic of parliament. Now more than ever we need a president who can act as a guarantor, a parliament president who will give all MEPs and all groups the opportunity to speak and influence the decisions of this institution. A president who will stand for and defend the European values and the political pluralism of this house.”
Pittella writes, “A president that is both proactive and an exemplary proponent of human rights, freedom, solidarity and human dignity on the global stage, while ensuring high levels of ethics, pluralism and democracy for the institution that I hope to represent. Against this background allow me to remind you how our political families have been struggling throughout the years together for key common challenges.
“Due to the fact that this honest offer was never put forward for your attention, I took the liberty of presenting it to you, leaving this up to your better judgement.”
It is signed, “Best regards, Gianni Pittella”
On Thursday, the ALDE group reacted bitterly to Pittella after the letter’s existence was leaked to this website.
A close aide to Verhofstadt told this website, “He (Pittella) claims this (letter) constituted an offer of collaboration that would have justified us supporting his candidature. And that this offer had been made to us. It is true that at one meeting in December he mentioned an extra special committee. But that can't be a serious proposal. As to Brexit, Verhofstadt was already Brexit negotiator so I don't know what he means.”
The aide added, “He clearly was under pressure from his group for not having even tried to get our support.”
Further reaction to Pittella’s letter came from ALDE spokesman Jeroen Reijnen who said, "In election campaigns people get excited. But it would be wise if Pittella sticks to the facts."
"First of all, he never came with a serious proposal. He knew very well that we did not only want to talk about the jobs. For us the political content is much more important. It is time to reform Europe, to move it forward with new energy and ambition.”
“We hope that Pittella will have a good look at the content of the agreement between the ALDE and EPP and decide to support the goals of the pro-European coalition. Only if we work together, can we change Europe."
No-one from the Socialist group was immediately available for comment.