Alliance for Liberals, Democrats for Europe Rejects Merge With Italy's M5S

The Alliance for Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) will not go ahead with the proposed deal on merging with the biggest Italian opposition party represented in the European Parliament, the Five Star Movement (M5S), due to insufficient common ground, ALDE Chairman and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) — He stressed that the parties would continue to work together "on issues of shared interest, such as the environment, transparency and direct democracy."

"I have come to the conclusion that there are not enough guarantees to push forward together a common agenda to reform Europe. There remain fundamental differences on key European issues," Verhofstadt said in a statement released on Monday evening.

Earlier on Monday, following an online vote, M5S Chairman Beppe Grillo announced the party's decision to withdraw from the Euroskeptic political group Alliance for Direct Democracy in Europe (ADDE) and merge with the ALDE.

Had the deal gone ahead the ALDE would have become the third-biggest EU party, with 17 European lawmakers from the M5S joining the party following the merge. The party stands for reinforcing and enlarging the European Union and promotes the European integration processes.

The ADDE is composed of the parties belonging to Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) parliamentary group, led by the UK Independence Party (UKIP) leader Nigel Farage. The M5S was a second major member of the EFDD.

The Five Star Movement was established in 2009 by Grillo, a comedian, and web-strategist Gianroberto Casaleggio. Grillo used his blog and social media to gather people for campaigning on local issues and field candidates for elections.