On Thursday 20 June, Maxime PREVOT, President of the Mouvement Les Engagés, and Yvan VEROUGSTRAETE, Vice-President and MEP, announced the arrival of the Mouvement Les Engagés in the European Democratic Party at a press conference at the European Parliament in the presence of François BAYROU, President of the PDE, and Sandro GOZI, Secretary General of the European Party.
As announced during the election campaign, Les Engagés wanted to rethink its place at European level in order to come closer to the centrist and progressive values it has embodied since its creation. Now, with the European Democratic Party, Les Engagés wants to take its project forward with a strong ambition for the European Union and breathe new life into it.
For Maxime PREVOT, “for almost two years, Les Engagés has had the courage to change and reinvent itself on the national stage. On the European stage, it could not have done otherwise in the face of the democratic challenges of today and tomorrow, be they social, environmental, economic or geopolitical. Joining the family of the European Democratic Party is a step in a new direction, more in line with our modern values, which have been moving away from the more conservative ideas of the European People’s Party on issues such as the environment and migration.
“We decided to answer the call of the European Democratic Party, which sits in the Parliament in the RENEW group, and to represent the humanist and most progressive wing of the party,” explains Yvan VEROUGSTRAETE, recently elected MEP for Les Engagés. “It is also a question of honesty towards voters and citizens. We are proud of the work done within the EPP itself, where our MEP’s voice has regularly stood out and moved internal lines. But it has to be said that since our re-foundation, the EPP’s focus has become less relevant to us”.
According to François BAYROU and Sandro GOZI, “Europe is at a turning point. Faced with the return of war to our soil, faced with geopolitical instability, faced with the desire of continental states to take control of technologies and economies, faced with climate change, it is urgent to breathe new life into Europe. With Les Engagés at our side, we want to keep up the momentum and build bridges between all those who want to build a stronger, fairer, more sustainable, humane and democratic Europe”.
“For us – explain François BAYROU – today is a moment of certainty and commitment for the future. We will not allow Europe and our countries to stray down the dangerous paths of extremes.It is our responsibility as citizens, as a family, to fight against this dark threat. This is a profoundly significant moment for us to decide, together, the path that will take us out of this impasse”.
“We are very pleased – say Sandro GOZI – with this decision by the Les Engagés party, which strengthens the European Democratic Party and the Renew Europe group. I believe this is the first of a series of arrivals: in the coming weeks we will have proof that the EDP’s centrist positions of reasonableness and pragmatism will be extremely attractive.”
Les Engagés and the PDE therefore define themselves as a central, humanist, progressive and pro-European political force that believes in political pluralism and rejects the false dichotomy between left-wing and right-wing politics. “We want to reinvent Europe and build a European future that our citizens can be proud of,” conclude Maxime Prévot and Yvan Verougstraete.
Related member(s)
François
Bayrou
President
France
MoDem
Sandro
Gozi
Secretary General
France
Engin
Eroglu
Executive Vice-President
Germany
Freie Wähler
Marie-Pierre
Vedrenne
.
France
MoDem
Izaskun
Bilbao Barandica
Member of the Presidency
Basque Country
EAJ-PNV
Joachim
Streit
.
Germany
Freie Wähler
Yvan
Verougstraete
Deputy Secretary General
Belgium
Les Engagés
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