GUY VERHOFSTADT, leader of the liberal ALDE grouping in the European Parliament, once dismissed Italy's upstart Five Star Movement (m5s) as "incompatible" with his pro-European-ism. Beppe Grillo, its leader, called Mr Verhofstadt "unpresentable". Since then Mr Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister whose answer to every problem is a rousing cry of "More Europe!", has positioned himself as a bulwark against the anti-European populism ravaging the EU-precisely the sort of thing Mr Grillo has made his stock-in-trade. So when plans for a parliamentary alliance between the two men emerged on January 9th, pundits scratched their heads, ALDE and m5s vote against each other as often as not (see chart). Most of aide's 69 MEPS were horrified at the prospect of joining forces with a party that stood for everything they detested. Before the day was out they had squashed the plan.
展开▼
