 This list was unsuccessful in the election, and von der Esch returned to parliamentary politics in 1998 as a Christian Democrat.In the 2003 referendum on joining the Economic and Monetary Union and the euro, he again campaigned on the "no" side.He later joined the June List, became its vice chairman in 2008, and was on second place on the June List ballot in the 2009 European Parliament election in which the party lost its representation in the European Parliament.