Bardella, Hayer, Glucksmann… What have the heads of the list done since 2019

POLITICS – Don’t look for Marion Maréchal in this article. The candidate from Eric Zemmour’s Reconquest party is the only head of the list in the European elections not to be an outgoing MEP. The others who are able to have elected representatives after the June 9 vote have all spent the last five years in the European Parliament.

One month before the election, HuffPost chose to focus on the last five years to take a closer look at the work carried out in Strasbourg and Brussels by Jordan Bardella, Valérie Hayer, Raphaël Glucksmann, Manon Aubry, Marie Toussaint and François-Xavier Bellamy.

As this series of articles shows, not everyone has had comparable activity during the past mandate.

Who is the most diligent candidate?

This is particularly what emerges from a detailed analysis of the attendance of these six outgoing MEPs. “ There is no tool allowing a clear classification of the attendance of MEPs. On the other hand, there are many clues about the effectiveness of their work”confided a few weeks ago a small hand from the European Parliament.

And as such, the starving nature of Jordan Bardella’s record in the European Parliament cannot be contested. An illustration: the president of the National Rally only signed one report when all his competitors signed at least five. The prize goes to Valérie Hayer, candidate of the presidential majority who signed 17.

The full analysis can be found here: Bardella, Glucksmann, Hayer… Who has been the most diligent in the European Parliament since 2019?

Bardella most conciliatory with Russia

If the war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas took an important place in the campaign, that waged in Ukraine by Vladimir Putin’s Russia must not take a back seat. By sending Thierry Mariani to replace Jordan Bardella who had refused the first debate, the National Rally had recalled that it has the most conciliatory position with the Russian aggressor.

An impression confirmed if we look at the 14 votes concerning support for Ukraine or condemnation of the Kremlin regime, which took place in the European Parliament from March 9, 2022 to February 29, 2024. Jordan Bardella only voted only one resolution, that after the death of Alexeï Navalny. Conversely, four candidates (Valérie Hayer, Raphaël Glucksmann, Marie Toussaint and François-Xavier Bellamy) provide constant support for resolutions and other texts which establish the support of the European Union for kyiv or which condemn the actions of the Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

On the sidelines of this quartet, the leader of the rebels Manon Aubry voted for 11 of the 14 notable texts but she abstained three times.

The full analysis can be found here: What the leaders voted on Russia in the European Parliament

When the CAP reveals a very clear divide

Another subject on which a clear divide has appeared over the last five years: the agricultural question. Well before the crisis that France experienced at the start of 2024, the European Parliament voted on an emblematic text. When, on November 23, 2021, they adopted the rules of the Common Agricultural Policy for the period 2023-2027, MEPs probably did not suspect that they would put European farmers by the thousands on the streets.

That day, Raphaël Glucksmann (PS), Manon Aubry (LFI) and Marie Toussaint (Ecologists) spoke against, and Jordan Bardella (RN), Valérie Hayer (Renaissance) and François-Xavier Bellamy (LR) voted For. However, on the right we deplored that the text was too restrictive on environmental standards, while on the left we judged it, on the contrary, not ambitious enough.

The full analysis can be found here: When the CAP revealed a clear divide between the future heads of the list

Also see on The HuffPost: