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Prague/Brussels – The ANO movement will leave the liberal Renew Europe faction in the European Parliament (EP) as well as the European ALDE party. This was announced by the head of the movement, Andrej Babiš, at a press conference in the Chamber of Deputies today. According to him, ANO could not fulfill its program in the current faction. The ANO presidency, which won seven MEP mandates in the recent elections, decided on the movement’s stance on Thursday. According to the head of the faction, Valérie Hayer, ANO’s departure from Renew Europe is a long-expected divorce. As she added on social network X, ANO has chosen a populist path incompatible with the values and identity of liberals.
The movement is now continuing negotiations in the EP about possible membership in another faction, a decision will be made in the next two weeks, Babiš said. According to him, joining the conservative right-wing faction of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) is not a solution.
“We went into the elections to fight against illegal migration, to change the Green Deal, which is destroying European industry and agriculture and has a negative impact on our citizens. Based on the negotiations, we concluded that Renew and ALDE simply have different positions than the ANO movement,” Babiš noted.
According to the head of the liberal faction, French MEP Valérie Hayer, ANO “turned its back on pro-European values.” “In the last month, their departure from our values has increased exponentially and we have watched with great concern,” Hayer wrote on social network X, noting that the “unwillingness of ANO to continue to be committed to liberal values led to today’s outcome.” “ANO’s departure strengthens our pro-European values and our unity. Renew Europe is even more united in its mission to support liberal values and bring an ambitious program for the Europe of tomorrow,” the head of the faction added.