The French MEP Valérie Hayer was elected this Thursday morning as the president of Renew Europe, the centrist group in the European Parliament

Starting as a municipal councillor in Saint-Denis-d’Anjou at the age of 21, and then as a departmental councillor of Mayenne at 29, Valérie Hayer was elected to the European Parliament in 2019, on the list of La République En Marche.

A specialist in budgetary matters, she serves on the European Parliament’s Committee on Budgets. She is the European Parliament’s rapporteur on own resources, aiming to strengthen the EU’s financial autonomy by creating new revenue streams for the European budget.

Since 2021, she has co-chaired the French delegation L’Europe Ensemble within Renew Europe with Marie-Pierre Vedrenne.

Valérie Hayer succeeds Stéphane Séjourné at the helm of Renew Europe, who joined the government as Minister of Europe and Foreign Affairs on January 11. She will now lead a group of about a hundred deputies from 24 different countries.

The MEP was the sole candidate for the presidency of the Renew group. Among the expected candidates was Dutch MEP Malik Azmani. A member of the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), he was acting as the head of the Renew Europe group in his capacity as first vice-president. However, he ultimately did not submit his candidacy.