‘There can be no cooperation with the extreme right in Europe’

Hardly a week goes by without new revelations about influence operations around the European Parliament. This Tuesday, the German investigative services announced that they had arrested an employee of the radical right-wing MEP Maximilian Krah, on suspicion of passing on information to the Chinese secret services. It previously became clear that the Czech and Belgian services, among others, are investigating Russian influence operations.

“I am extremely concerned about it,” says Valérie Hayer. “The risks are great, and we must be very aware of that. For example, we need to strengthen our cyber security, but we now also need transparency: names and further clarity about who it concerns.”

Hayer was elected at the end of January as chairman of the liberal Renew faction in the European Parliament, to which the VVD and D66 are also affiliated. VVD MEP Malik Azmani had also aspired to that position, but because there was resistance within the group about the coalition talks his party was conducting with the PVV, he withdrew.

In the run-up to the elections for the European Parliament in early June, Hayer is now in full campaign mode: she is not only the party leader of President Emmanuel Macron (Renaissance), but also one of the top candidates for the European Liberals. The threat of the radical right in Europe is one of her core issues and the revelations about Russian and Chinese influence confirm this, according to Hayer. “It shows us that, contrary to what they tell us in their speeches, they work for foreign parties and not in the interests of European citizens. These parties are toxic. Toxic for our democracies, toxic for our citizens.”

You categorically rule out cooperation with the radical right after the EU elections. Why is that so important?

“They have a completely different project than us. They want to unravel Europe, undo the European project. And we at Renew want to further build and strengthen the European project, in the interests of all Europeans. I also warn citizens: what would the extreme right have meant in recent years, and what for the coming years? It would have meant a loss of competitiveness, a loss of jobs, and no progress in strengthening the defense industry in the coming years. Sometimes I hear that excluding parties would not be democratic. But then my answer is clear: we simply have a completely different project, different values. We fight for democracy, for freedom of expression and freedom in general. They want to destroy Europe.”

In the Netherlands there is a good chance that the VVD will enter a coalition with the radical right PVV. Doesn’t that weaken your message?

“We have already had several opportunities to discuss this with our VVD colleagues and I can therefore say with great certainty that our line is completely clear. There can be no cooperation with the extreme right in Europe.”

Asked what Hayer means by the latter, her spokesperson intervenes: she will not comment on any national political situation.

In the campaign, Hayer emphatically presents herself as a farmer’s daughter: just like in the Netherlands, farmers’ protests have also flared up in France in recent months, including against European rules. When asked, Hayer emphasizes the importance of combating “polarization between climate and farmers – it is not the case that climate activists are on one side and tractors are on the other. I believe that farmers contribute enormously to the climate transition.”

At the same time, advisory reports from scientists consistently state that if the EU wants to take serious action towards a climate-neutral future, more measures are needed to green agriculture. Should the EU implement this in the coming years?

“The common agricultural policy has never been as green as it is today. We have had a lot of legislation in recent times. I think it is now time to implement the Green Deal.”

Another important election issue is migration. The EU recently adopted a new asylum and migration pact, but according to some, this is still insufficient and Europe should conclude more migration deals such as with Tunisia. Do you think so too?

“My position is clear: we have just reached a very successful agreement and we want to approach migration in an orderly and humane manner. We must now first implement this agreement.”

Some European politicians, including the Christian Democrats, advocate similar agreements to the one the United Kingdom concluded with Rwanda. And therefore receiving migrants outside our own European borders. Do you also feel for that?

“I am not at all interested in those kinds of agreements. We have negotiated hard recently and we must now collectively support this pact. And when it comes to the Rwanda deal: the costs are enormous. I really don’t think that is the right solution, and I also believe that the EPP [christendemocratische partij] is running after the extreme right in this area.”

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