Plenty is still in flux, but it seems clear that Macron doesn't plan to simply join one of the existing groups in the European Parliament. Guy Verhofstadt, head of the parliamentary group Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), the primary proponents of economic liberalism in Brussels, is in frequent contact with Macron via text message, but he still hasn't been invited to Élysée Palace. The Socialists are in the process of shrinking into meaninglessness across Europe. And the EPP, the European Parliamentary group to which Chancellor Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats (CDU) belong, in addition to the parties of Silvio Berlusconi in Italy and Viktor Orbán in Hungary, doesn't seem to Macron like the right political ally either. [...]
Indeed, there are nascent efforts across Europe to establish movements similar to En Marche! - everywhere, that is, but in Germany, where Anglade is exercising caution. For one, the German party system is still seen as being relatively stable despite the rise of the right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany. For another, Macron is wary of antagonizing Merkel's conservatives or the center-left Social Democrats (SPD) since he needs the chancellor and incoming Finance Minister Olaf Scholz (of the SPD) to implement at least some of the EU reforms he has proposed. [...]
Macron has already suffered initial defeats at the hands of the European establishment. In February, a clear majority in the European Parliament voted against Macron's proposal to replace British MEPs post-Brexit with candidates elected on the basis of transnational lists, one of the French president's most important ideas for injecting more democracy into the European project. The EU summit at the end of February likewise rejected the idea.
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