Fractions of Orban and AfD are leaving EU posts empty
After the European election, the EU Parliament reorganizes. The leadership positions in committees are being assigned. However, the two far-right factions "Patriots for Europe" with Hungary's Prime Minister Orban's Fidesz party and "Sovereign European Nations" with the AfD as its strongest force, are looking disappointingly into the empty chairs.
In the European Parliament, neither the "Patriots for Europe" alliance around Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban nor the "Sovereign European Nations" (ESN) faction, in which the AfD is the strongest force, will become committee chairpersons. According to parliamentary statements, the "Brussels and elsewhere referred to as 'Cordon sanitaire' against right-wing pro-European factions" has held off for the time being.
Ordinarily, committee chairpersons in Brussels are appointed using the D'Hondt method, a system named after the Belgian mathematician. This method, among other things, aims to convert voter votes as effectively as possible into seats. It is planned but not mandatory to use the D'Hondt method for the distribution of committee chairpersons. Since the third largest faction in the European Parliament now does not take on a committee chair, an exception was made from the system.
A total of 20 committee chairpersons and four chairs for subcommittees were assigned. The Center-Right European People's Party (EVP), to which the CDU and CSU also belong, secured eight leadership positions for themselves. The Social Democrats will represent five chairpersons in the future, and the Liberals three.
Similar situation for the AfD in the German Bundestag
A similar situation exists for the conservative right-wing ECR fraction. Three committee chairs will be held by a Green politician and a Green politician in the future. The Left-wing faction also received two of these posts. In addition, a politician from the Volt party leads one of the committees.
Before the election, there were debates about whether the "Cordon sanitaire" should also apply to parties in the ECR fraction. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had not ruled out, for example, using votes from the party of Italy's right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to elect herself before her election.
A similar conflict exists in the German Bundestag. The AfD is currently fighting in Karlsruhe for the chairmanship of several committees. The Federal Constitutional Court will clarify until September whether the AfD-faction's participation and co-determination rights from the Basic Law limit the Bundestag's legislative autonomy. The Karlsruhe judges and judges want to make a "clearer picture of the previous parliamentary practice and tradition," as Vice-President of the Federal Constitutional Court Doris König said in March.
Despite the strong presence of the "Patriots for Europe" alliance headed by Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and the "Sovereign European Nations" (ESN) faction, with the AfD as its leading force, in the European Parliament, neither group was able to secure committee chairperson positions. This development follows the 'Cordon sanitaire', a term often used to refer to the perceived isolation of right-wing pro-European factions in Brussels.
In a different context, the Green party is set to lead three committee chairs in the European Parliament for the conservative right-wing ECR fraction. Similar to the AfD in the German Bundestag, they are currently embroiled in a legal battle over their participation and co-determination rights in committee leadership positions.
The Congress of the European People's Party (EVP), which includes the CDU and CSU, secured eight leadership positions in the European Parliament's committees, making them one of the major players in the post-election reorganization.
