Niclas Herbst and René Repasi want to shake up how the center-right and left work together. But will their bosses agree?
By MAX GRIERAin BRUSSELS
Top lawmakers in the European Parliament want to replace the fragile alliance supporting Ursula von der Leyen with a formal German-style centrist coalition — over fears her group relies too much on the far right to pass legislation.
Niclas Herbst and René Repasi, the respective parliamentary leaders of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s center-right Christian Democrats and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil’s center-left Social Democrats — the two parties that govern Germany — said they want their pan-European political families to strike a deal to push through policies as a united front rather than bicker over issues they disagree on. In what would be a striking reversal of how their two groups have drifted apart, they want formal governance structures to resolve disputes and take turns promoting their priorities.
“If we don’t have trust, and if we don’t find good solutions, if we do not deliver for the people, the populists and extremists on the left and on the right will decide,” Herbst said, sitting in an armchair next to Repasi, in the center-left lawmaker’s office during a joint interview — itself a stunning case of two rival politicians wanting to put their differences aside to fight what they see as a common enemy. According to a POLITICO poll of polls, the three centrist groups are on course to lose 49 seats at the next election.
