The Dutch VVD Liberal party will remain in the Renew group of the European parliament, despite concerns about the party’s link up with the far-right PVV in the Netherlands.

Group chairwoman Valérie Hayer said in the run-up to the European elections that the alliance between the VVD and PVV was going too far.

But Renew lost seats in the elections and is now the fourth biggest party in the European parliament, having been overtaken by the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists.

Losing more members by expelling the VVD, would have been going too far for most of the members.

“The VVD is an important part of our family,” Hayer said on Thursday. “I have said what I had to say about their domestic choices. Now we have to get to work.”

In the meantime, pan-European party Volt, which also has Liberal roots, has opted to join the European Greens rather than Renew, as had been expected. Volt now has five MEPs, two of whom come from the Netherlands.