The just-elected European Parliament isn't even seated yet, and a new liberal-progressive force championed by French President Emmanuel Macron is already embroiled in controversy — within its own ranks.

Nathalie Loiseau, who was the top candidate on Macron's Renaissance list in the Parliament election, sent a message on Thursday evening to fellow MEPs from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) trying to contain the damage from a column in the Belgian newspaper Le Soir that said she was planning a sweeping overhaul of the group.

The column, which Le Soir quickly removed from its website, had quoted Loiseau as saying in an off-the-record briefing that the ALDE group, long led by Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt, would get "new methods, a new charter and a new leadership," in a group where "the barycentre [epicenter] will be less Nordic."

According to the article, Loiseau also compared Manfred Weber, the leader of the European People's Party's group and the conservatives' nominee for Commission president, to an "ectoplasm."

Weber and other conservatives have sharply criticized ALDE for refusing to put forward a single nominee for the Commission's top job and for generally being unable to articulate clear objectives in discussions about the EU's future leadership. That criticism aside, a tug-of-war is clearly underway for control over the future liberal group, which still does not yet have a formal name.

"The French delegation is mostly composed of newcomers and conscious that we have a lot to learn as well as we have a lot to bring to the group" — Nathalie Loiseau

In her message to fellow MEPs, Loiseau denied Le Soir's account and sought to minimize any suggestion of internal disagreements.

"I read a very strange piece in Le Soir ... I don't recognize what is attributed to me. This is pure fantasy," Loiseau wrote in the email, a copy of which was provided to POLITICO.

Although Le Soir removed the article from its website, a version translated into English, seen by POLITICO, was still circulating on WhatsApp in European Parliament circles.

The original version, which was online for about three hours on Thursday afternoon, offered a sharp criticism of Loiseau, mentioning "an obvious lack of political finesse" in the Renaissance leader.

"The story is indeed high on innuendo and low on content, and written with the intent to hurt both you and our new group" — Luis Garicano, leader of the Spanish delegation to ALDE

Jurek Kuczkiewicz, a veteran Brussels journalist who is the author of the column in Le Soir, said that he stood by the story, but that it was taken down after French journalists complained that information included in the article came from an off-record briefing, which Kuczkiewicz had not attended. "The emotion of French journalists was such that we decided to withdraw it," Kuczkiewicz said.

The briefing for French journalists, led by Loiseau, was intended to describe the new group's agenda from the perspective of the French delegation. There is often confusion in Brussels over terms such as "on background" and "off the record," which have different meanings in some national capitals, regarding if and how material can be used or attributed.

With 21 MEPs, Macron's En Marche party is now the biggest delegation in the ALDE group and Loiseau, who will be serving her first term in the European Parliament, has clearly set her sights on becoming group leader — a job that will be hotly contested.

Swedish MEP Fredrick Federley and Dutch MEP Sophie in’ t Veld are also campaigning for the post. Meanwhile, Verhofstadt has made no secret of his desire to become president of the Parliament, but he could seek to remain as group leader if he is denied a higher position.

After a meeting of political group leaders in Parliament on Wednesday evening, Verhofstadt alone signed a leaders' statement, on behalf of ALDE, about plans by the pro-EU groups to develop a joint policy agenda for the new Parliament — even though Verhofstadt and Loiseau were jointly elected to negotiate on behalf of the group in coalition talks.

The Liberals are scheduled to formally elect a new group leader on June 18.

In her email, Loiseau sought to portray the new French delegation as humble and cooperative.

"The French delegation is mostly composed of newcomers and conscious that we have a lot to learn as well as we have a lot to bring to the group," Loiseau wrote in the message, which was in English. "No one should behave with arrogance in the group, especially the French."

In the message, she also mentioned the need for "a balance between geographical origins, political nuances," in what appeared to be an attempt to address the leaked comments attributed to her about the ALDE group having a "less Nordic" epicenter.

On the group's new name, she said the French MEPs are "not the ones putting ideas on the table." For Macron's party, however, avoiding "liberal" is imperative as the word is often seen negatively in France, as synonymous with heartless ultra-capitalism.

Some rank-and-file liberals said that the allegations of in-fighting were exaggerated.

On Friday morning, Loiseau received support from Luis Garicano, a newly elected MEP who is leader of the Spanish delegation to ALDE and has served as a vice president of the EU-wide ALDE party.

"The story is indeed high on innuendo and low on content, and written with the intent to hurt both you and our new group," Garicano wrote of the Le Soir article in his own email to colleagues. In the message, seen by POLITICO, Garicano added: "I am sure that we all share your desire for a balanced and united group with a clear purpose. Obviously, many outside would prefer us to fail, but ... it is imperative that we succeed."