The far right has made the running so far but mainstream parties hope to increase contact.
STRASBOURG — European Parliament members decided Wednesday to send a delegation to Washington on April 9-11 to strengthen relations with their United States counterparts ahead of what they think could be a rocky Trump administration.
Brando Benifei, Bernd Lange, Eva Maydell, Sophie Wilmès and David McAllister — all lawmakers belonging to the Parliament’s centrist parties — will be attending, according to two MEPs and one official.
But they are late to the party.
Far-right factions, traditionally sidelined from Parliament’s business by the mainstream, are beating them to it.
Lawmakers from far-right Europe of Sovereign Nations, Patriots for Europe and right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists sent delegations to U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. They schmoozed with congresspeople, senators, conservative foundations and tech billionaires, hitting the ground running with the new American establishment.
“We will be the main partner to work with the new administration,” co-chair of the ECR Patryk Jaki said, adding “we can help” Europe’s centrist mainstream forces.
But the mainstream parties which lead the European Union — the Christian Democrats, Socialists and liberals — are not giving up.
Parliament is seeking to boost its ties with U.S. lawmakers at their level so that if the relationship between Trump and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen breaks down, channels of communication between Brussels and Washington remain open.
“Trump requires Congress the same way the Commission needs the Parliament so if we are able to at least have some kind of understanding with Congress, if U.S. lawmakers understand Europe, if we can then give the relationship a boost, then it allows for the rhetoric to remain rhetoric and to make the transatlantic relationship work,” a senior Parliament official told POLITICO.
Parliament is often seen as the most junior EU institution, with little foreign policy might.
It does have some soft power, however, such as via the Transatlantic Legislators’ Dialogue, a forum composed of EU and U.S. lawmakers that have regular meetings. The next one is expected on April 9-11 .
“Many people in the U.S. Congress are convinced relations with the EU are very important and we need to find solutions together,” Socialist chair of the delegation to U.S., Benifei, said.
Via “parliamentary diplomacy,” he said, the EU can try to influence U.S. policy in the Congress, which Trump will need to pass legislation, by hitting the phones when a file is particularly sensitive for Brussels.
There is a “slim majority of the ruling party,” he pointed, arguing that “it’s crucial to have a dialogue with the Republicans.”
As for the role of the far right in strengthening parliamentary relations, Benifei said it would be very difficult for the Republicans “to follow this path even if they wanted,” as the Patriots, ESN and ECR are a minority in Europe and do not have decision-making power.
Manfred Weber, chair of the most powerful EU group, the center-right European People’s Party, said Tuesday there was a need to reengage with his counterparts after years of neglect, “so that not only Patriots are partners for the administration … we must again interlink with our American partners in a lot of issues.”