Minutes ago the liberal ALDE group stopped the negotiations with the eurosceptic 5-star movement of Beppe Grillo to join their group. Few days ago a detailed draft agreement between liberals and 5-stars had surfaced and the 5-stars voted today in favour of this deal.
MEP Sven Giegold, spokesperson of the German Greens in the European Parliament commented:
The Liberals did well to end their negotiations with the eurosceptic 5-star movement. Guy Verhofstadt’s deal was stopped by more principled liberal colleagues. His candidacy as pro-european successor of Martin Schulz lost not just 17 votes but most of its political credentials. On the contrary the liberal group defended its pro-European credibility.