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EU’s Greens ready to discuss alliance with Italy’s 5Stars

End of coalition with Salvini brings movement closer to mainstream.

Greens in the European Parliament are ready to talk to the 5Star Movement about the Italian governing party joining their bloc, Philippe Lamberts, the co-president of the Greens group, told POLITICO.

Lamberts said there had been no question of admitting the 5Stars as long as they were in coalition with Matteo Salvini’s far-right League party. But that government collapsed last month, to be replaced by a tie-up between the 5Stars and the center-left Democratic Party, bringing the movement that long styled itself as anti-establishment closer to the mainstream.

“The participation of the 5Stars in the government with Salvini was the ultimate obstacle,” Lamberts said. “This obstacle has been lifted. We are ready to discuss.”

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In the Parliament, the 5Stars have often been ostracized by mainstream parties and considered Euroskeptic. In previous years, the movement was part of the European Freedom and Direct Democracy group alongside Nigel Farage and his supporters, although some 5Stars members insisted they did not feel at ease with the Brexit champion.

Bas Eickhout, a Dutch MEP and vice chair of the Greens group, said the 5Stars have “quite a history” in terms of political alliances. “It’s not only their choice of government [with the far right], but also the choice of going with Farage last time,” he said.

“You ask me: Am I happy? That’s not the terminology I would use,” Eickhout said of the prospect of teaming up with the 5Stars. But he added: “I am certainly not saying no.”

Eickhout said no official talks are under way but “there are talks in the corridors.” He said he could see both pros and cons to a tie-up with the Italians.

The 5Stars are currently not part of any bloc so joining the Greens group would give the movement’s 14 MEPs more influence, more speaking time and access to more financial resources.

With 74 MEPs, the Greens’ group is the fourth largest in the Parliament. It is expected to play a prominent role in the new parliamentary term as the legislature is more fragmented, meaning Green support will be more important in order to pass legislation. European Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen has also pledged to make green policies a priority.

For the Greens, the addition of the 5Stars could help cushion the blow of losing 11 British MEPs if Brexit goes ahead.

On Friday, 5Star officials said they are open to talking to the Greens.

“We are ready to launch a serious discussion, loyal and constructive, with the Greens group,” a 5Star party official said. “We have a lot in common, as demonstrated in the work done during the last legislature and we have indisputable political affinities on various themes : climate defense, renewables, fight against austerity, organic farming.”

In 2017, the Parliament’s liberal leader Guy Verhofstadt opened the door of his bloc to the 5Stars, but his ALDE group later rejected any alliance with a group they deemed Euroskeptic.

Italy’s center-left former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi said last week the 5Stars had also reached out to the new liberal-centrist group, Renew Europe (RE). But both 5Star and RE group officials denied any such move.

Kalina Oroschakoff and Jacopo Barigazzi contributed reporting.