The far-right are increasingly taking the lead in EU migration policies as the mainstream centrist parties continue to be lured by their ideas.
What the Socialists, Liberals and Greens can no longer do is denounce the hard-right while sustaining the parliamentary machinery that gives it influence. Yet that is precisely what they have been doing since 2024, and the renewal of the European Parliament presidency is about to expose the contradiction.
Trouble starts when the centrist parties begin to sound alike. When moderate left and moderate right converge into a governing centre, voters lose real choice within the system. When democracy loses its internal opposition, it begins producing external opposition. This is the consensus trap.
Rightwing groups in the European Parliament have extended for six months a controversial committee investigating NGOs that receive EU funding.
The European Parliament has set out its mandate. We stand ready to negotiate constructively with the Council, with a clear goal: agreement by the end of 2026, so new programmes can be launched on schedule in January 2028, write S&D MEP lead co-negotiator Carla Tavares.
“We aim to work from the political centre and build constructive, workable compromises,” said the office of Malik Azmani, a Dutch liberal from the Renew Europe faction, who is leading talks on the bill.