Renew Europe (or simply Renew) is a liberal,

centrist Centrism is the range of political ideologies that exist between left-wing politics and right-wing politics on the left–right political spectrum. It is associated with moderate politics, including people who strongly support moderate policie ...

centre-right Centre-right politics is the set of right-wing politics, right-wing political ideologies that lean closer to the political centre. It is commonly associated with conservatism, Christian democracy, liberal conservatism, and conservative liberalis ...

pro-European Pro-Europeanism, sometimes called European Unionism, is a political position that favours European integration and membership of the European Union (EU).Krisztina Arató, Petr Kaniok (editors). ''Euroscepticism and European Integration''. Pol ...

political group of the European Parliament The political groups of the European Parliament are the officially recognised parliamentary groups consisting of legislators of aligned ideologies in the European Parliament. The European Parliament is unique among supranational assemblies i ...

founded for the

ninth European Parliament The ninth European Parliament was elected during the 2019 European Parliament election, 2019 elections and sat until the tenth European Parliament was sworn in on 16 July 2024. Major events *23–26 May 2019 **2019 European Parliament elec ...

term. The group is the successor to the

Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE; , ADLE) was a transnational alliance between two European political parties, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and the European Democratic Party. ALDE had political ...

(ALDE) group which existed during the sixth, seventh and eighth terms from 2004 to 2019, and under a variety of other names in earlier Parliaments.

Renew Europe in the European Committee of the Regions Renew Europe is a political group in the European Committee of the Regions, bringing together liberal city mayors, regional presidents and ministers, and local and regional councillors to contribute to the European Union's legislative procedure. The ...

is the sister group of Renew Europe.

History

In May 2019, speaking at a debate leading up to the

2019 European Parliament election The 2019 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 23 and 26 May 2019. It was the ninth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979. A total of 751 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) we ...

Guy Verhofstadt Guy Maurice Marie Louise Verhofstadt (; ; born 11 April 1953) is a Belgian politician who served as the prime minister of Belgium from 1999 to 2008. He was a member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Belgium from 2009 until 2024. He was a me ...

, president of the

(ALDE) group, announced that, following the election, the ALDE Group intended to dissolve and form a new alliance with French President

Emmanuel Macron Emmanuel Jean-Michel Frédéric Macron (; born 21 December 1977) is a French politician who has served as President of France and Co-Prince of Andorra since 2017. He was Ministry of Economy and Finance (France), Minister of Economics, Industr ...

's "Renaissance" electoral list. During and following the European elections, the group temporarily styled itself "ALDE plus Renaissance plus

USR PLUS USR PLUS was a Romanian progressive, liberal, and centrist political alliance active between 2019 and 2021. Established on 2 February 2019 solely as an electoral alliance between the political parties Save Romania Union (USR) and the Freedom, ...

". The new group announced the adoption of its name on 12 June 2019 after it formed an alliance with

La République En Marche! Renaissance (RE) is a political party in France that is typically described as liberal and centrist or centre-right. The party was originally known as (EM) and later (, LREM, LaREM or REM), before adopting its current name in September 2022 ...

. En Marche wanted to avoid the word ''liberal'' in the name, though the group continues to also be referred to as the Liberal Group outside of France. On 19 June 2019, it was announced that

Dacian Cioloș Dacian Julien Cioloș (; born 27 July 1969) is a Romanian Agronomy, agronomist who served as Prime Minister of Romania from November 2015 to January 2017. He previously served as Ministry of Agriculture, Forests and Rural Development (Romania), A ...

, former

Prime Minister of Romania The prime minister of Romania (), officially the prime minister of the Government of Romania (), is the head of the Government of Romania, Government of Romania. Initially, the office was styled ''President of the Council of Ministers'' (), when ...

and

European Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development The Commissioner for Agriculture is a member of the European Commission. The post is currently held by Commissioner Christophe Hansen. The post is in charge of rural issues, including most notably the controversial Common Agricultural Policy (CA ...

, had been chosen as the group's inaugural chairman, defeating

Sophie in 't Veld Sophia Helena "Sophie" in 't Veld (born 13 September 1963) is a Dutch politician (Volt, previously D66). She was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in 2004, and reelected in 2009, 2014 and 2019. She was D66's top candidate for the ...

by 64 votes to 42 and thus becoming the first Romanian to become the leader of a European Parliamentary group. In October 2021, Cioloș resigned to return to domestic politics in Romania. Following the resignation of

Dacian Cioloş Dacian may refer to: Relating to "Dacia" * of or relating to Dacia in southeastern Europe ** Dacians, the ancient Indo-European inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia ** Dacian language * of or relating to one of the other meanings of Dacia ...

Stéphane Séjourné Stéphane Séjourné (; born 26 March 1985) is a French politician of Renaissance who currently serves as Executive Vice-President of the European Commission for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy. He served as Minister for Europe and Foreign ...

announced his candidacy for the leadership of the Renew Europe group in the European Parliament and, as he ran unopposed, he was elected by acclamation on 19 October 2021. On 11 January 2024, Séjourné was appointed minister of Europe and foreign affairs in Gabriel Attal's government and therefore resigned from his position as chair of the Renew group. On 25 January 2024,

Valérie Hayer Valérie Hayer (; born 6 April 1986) is a French jurist and politician who has been serving as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) since 2019 in the Renew Europe. Since 2024, she has been leading the Renew Europe group in parliament. She ...

from French

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

party was elected by acclamation as leader of Renew Europe parliament group, as she ran unopposed. In March 2024, 'New Europeans' was founded as an association under French law, bringing together Macron's

party and other French, Romanian, Slovenian, Polish and Danish parties that are inside Renew Europe, but that are not affiliated with a European party (ALDE or EDP), for a total of 22 MEPs. Renew Europe presented three lead candidates for the

2024 European Parliament election The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth Elections to the European Parliament, parliamentary election since the 1979 European Parliament election, first direct electio ...

, one for each of the three factions that form the joint group: ALDE ( Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann), EDP ( Sandro Gozi) and L'Europe Ensemble (

MEPs

10th European Parliament

9th European Parliament

Former members

* The UK MEPs of the Liberal Democrats and the Alliance Party de facto left the group on 31 January 2020 when the UK left the EU. * On 20 January 2021, the Renew Europe Group terminated the membership of Viktor Uspaskich, MEP of the Lithuanian Labour Party. * In March 2021, Czech MEP Radka Maxová left the Renew Europe group because of disagreement with ANO 2011.

Resignation and replacement

Fredrick Federley Fredrick Erik Federley (; born 6 May 1978) is a Swedish former politician and Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Sweden. He was a member of the Centre Party, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. He was a member ...

, MEP of the Swedish Centre Party, resigned on 11 December 2020 from all politics immediately. * In August 2022,

Søren Gade Søren Gade Jensen (born 27 January 1963) is a Danish politician who has been list of speakers of the Folketing, Speaker of the Folketing since November 2022, representing the Liberalism, Liberal party, Venstre (Denmark), Venstre. He was a Liberal ...

, MEP from , announced that he would stand in the upcoming general election. It was later announced that

Bergur Løkke Rasmussen Bergur Løkke Rasmussen (born 4 March 1990) is a Danish politician who serves as a Member of the European Parliament for Moderates, the party he switched to in March 2023, away from Venstre. He is the son of former Prime Minister and current Mi ...

would replace him in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the two legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it ...

. On 13 March 2023, he announced that he would switch his party affiliation to the

Moderates Moderate is an ideological category which entails Centrism, centrist views on a liberal-conservative spectrum. It may also designate a rejection of radical politics, radical or extremism, extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religi ...

New members

* In February 2020,

Nicola Danti Nicola Danti (Pelago, 6 September 1966) is an Italian politician who served – with a brief interruption – as a Member of the European Parliament from the 2014 elections until the 2024 elections. He is a member of Italia Viva (IV) and was a v ...

leaves the S&D group and joins Renew Europe. * In March 2021, Marco Zullo, elected among the

Five Star Movement The Five Star Movement ( , M5S) is a political party in Italy, led by Giuseppe Conte. It was launched on 4 October 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a political activist and comedian, and Gianroberto Casaleggio, a web strategist. The party is primarily d ...

(independent) leaves his party and joins Renew Europe. * In May 2021,

Lucia Nicholsonová Lucia may refer to: Arts and culture * ''Lucía'', a 1968 Cuban film by Humberto Solás * ''Lucia'' (film), a 2013 Indian Kannada-language film ** ''Enakkul Oruvan'' (2015 film), its 2015 Tamil-language remake, also known as ''Lucia'' * '' L ...

, from Slovakia, then Independent at the national level but having been part of the

European Conservatives and Reformists European Conservatives and Reformists may refer to: *European Conservatives and Reformists Party (ECR Party), a soft Eurosceptic European political party *European Conservatives and Reformists Group The European Conservatives and Reformists ...

, leaves this group and joins Renew Europe. * On 10 November 2021, Renew Europe's president

announces that the Polish political party

Poland 2050 Szymon Hołownia's Poland 2050 (, PL2050) is a centrist to centre-right political party in Poland. It was founded as a social movement in 2020, shortly after that year's presidential election, and was officially registered as a political party ...

has joined Renew Europe, leading to

Róża Thun Róża Maria Thun (Róża Maria Barbara Fürstin von Thun und Hohenstein, ''née'' Woźniakowska, born 13 April 1954), is a Polish politician, more usually known as Róża Thun than by her formal style of Countess and from 1990 her style changed t ...

joining the group. * On 17 November 2021,

Carlo Calenda Carlo Calenda (born April 9, 1973 in Rome) is an Italian business executive and politician. Since October 13, 2022, he has served as a Senator of the Republic and, since February 20, 2022, as Secretary of ''Action (Italian political party), Azione ...

joins Renew Europe following the accession of his party, Azione. Renew Europe reaches 100 MEPs. * On 7 December 2021, Michal Wiezik leaves the EPP and joins Renew Europe following his transfer to

Progressive Slovakia Progressive Slovakia (, PS) is a liberal and social-liberal political party in Slovakia established in 2017. The party is led by Michal Šimečka, a former Vice President of the European Parliament. It is a member of the Renew Europe group and ...

. * On 8 March 2022, Salima Yenbou, a French MEP from

Europe Ecology – The Greens The Ecologists – Europe Ecology The Greens (), commonly known as The Ecologists (, LE) and formerly as Europe Ecology The Greens ( , EELV ) until 2023, is a centre-left to left-wing green political party in France. The party is a member of th ...

, leaves The Greens and joins Renew Europe after endorsing

in the run-up to the French presidential election. * On 4 May 2022, Greek MEP Giorgos Kyrtsos leaves the EPP and joins Renew Europe.

Leadership

*President:

(France) *First Vice-President: Billy Kelleher (Ireland) *Vice-Presidents: Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy (Netherlands), João Cotrim de Figueiredo (Portugal), Irena Jovena (Slovenia),

Ivars Ijabs Ivars Ijabs (born 17 November 1972) is a Latvian political scientist and politician. He is a lecturer and professor at the University of Latvia and holds a PhD in political science. In May 2019, representing political alliance Development/For!, ...

(Latvia), Morten Løkkegaard (Denmark),

Dan Barna Dan Barna (born 10 July 1975) is a Romanian politician and lawyer. He served as the president of the Save Romania Union (USR), and as co-president of USR PLUS, USR-PLUS until 1 October 2021. He was elected a member of the Chamber of Deputies (Rom ...

(Romania),

Anna-Maja Henriksson Anna-Maja Kristina Henriksson (née Forss; born 7 January 1964) is a Swedish-speaking Finnish politician. She has served as Finland's Minister of Justice, in Jyrki Katainen's cabinet and Alexander Stubb's cabinet from 2011 to 2015, Antti Rinn ...

(Finland) *Secretary General: Philip Drauz

International cooperation

On 21 January 2022, representatives of Renew Europe held a meeting with the

European Party of Armenia The European Party of Armenia (EPA) () is a Pro-Europeanism, pro-European political party in Armenia. It was founded on 6 November 2018 by Tigran Khzmalyan. The party supports Armenia's Accession of Armenia to the European Union, accession process ...

References

External links

*
Renew Europe in the European Committee of the Regions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Renew Europe 2019 establishments in the European Union Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe MEPs Political groups of the European Parliament

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

European political alliances