Talking Europe speaks to the head of the centrist Renew group in the European Parliament, Valérie Hayer, who recently led the EU election campaign in France on behalf of President Macron’s political bloc. We dissect the all-important vote on July 18 on Ursula von der Leyen’s potential second term as EU Commission’s president, and what Renew’s expectations of her are. On the political deadlock in France, Hayer urges politicians to take a leaf out of the EU parliament’s book when it comes to building coalitions and finding compromise. Hayer is also very outspoken on what the Hungarian prime minister called his “peace mission” to Kyiv, Moscow, Beijing and Washington. Hayer says what Viktor Orban is doing is “completely unacceptable,” and that it cannot be done “in the name of Europe.”
“We have a real political problem here. We knew that his (rotating presidency of the EU) would be like no other,” Hayer says, adding, “With my group, I request that the heads of state and government take their legal and political responsibilities, and ask Orban to stop doing what he is doing in our name.” Would she be in favour of ending Orban’s rotating presidency before the six-month stint officially ends? “I think so,” Hayer replies. “We should find a political way for him not to hold that responsibility anymore. And if that’s not possible, for political or legal reasons, let’s see how we can manage him and challenge him.”
