Alternative for Germany (AfD) looks set to launch a new group in the European Parliament early in July, Der Spiegel has reported.
The group, which has jokingly been referred to as ‘The Hooligans’ within the Brussels bubble, will be called The Sovereigntists. According to the information published by the German news outlet, it will include 34 MEPs from seven countries, meaning it meets the European Parliament thresholds for trans-nationals groups.
The group’s philosophy is reported to be based on the so-called Sofia Declaration of April 2024 by the party Rebirth (Wasraschdane) from Bulgaria, which calls for an end to EU bureaucracy.
European civilisation is “threatened by the aggression of globalist ideologies” and the right of peoples to self-determination is being “replaced by the dictatorship of a bureaucracy”, the AfD statement said.
The new group would be made up of the 15 MEPs from AfD, its main party; the six MEPs from the Polish Konfederacja; the three MEPs from Spain’s SALF, the third-largest party in the group along with the Bulgarian nationalists Vazrazhdane.
The Romanians of SOS România would contribute two MEPs, as would the Slovaks of Republika; France’s Reconquête, the party of Éric Zemmour, would contribute one, as would the Greeks of Νikh and the Hungarians of Mi Házank Mozgalom.
With the formation of this new group there would be three right-wing, patriotic or nationalist groups in the European Parliament.
According to a source in Konfederacja, the party was “engaged in negotiations with number of groups and parties in European Parliament” and had not “made any decision regarding our affiliation in EP yet”.
The presence of Romanians and Hungarians in the same group may be difficult to reconcile.
Just as Hungary’s Fidesz party and Romania’s AUR have their differences and will not both join European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) – Fidesz is not yet a member of a group – the same may well happen with SOS România and Hungary’s hard-right Mi Házank Mozgalom.
For the moment, the parliamentary elections in France are the group’s current concern.
“The elections in France are the main thing now, after that we will make our move,” said an AfD source.
COMMENT: The isolation of the AfD may bring new success to the EU nationalist right, writes @Jay_Conz. https://t.co/ix1gKNNpV7
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