In the shadow of Le Pen and Orban
AfD finds like-minded people for EU parliamentary group
10.07.2024, 08:01 a.m.
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The AfD members of the European Parliament will continue to belong to a parliamentary group in the coming years – together with representatives from eight other countries. However, the total of 28 members will probably be in the shadow of another right-wing parliamentary group.
According to information from the party leadership, the AfD delegation in the new European Parliament has decided to form a joint parliamentary group with other right-wing parties in the parliament. A spokesman for party leader Alice Weidel confirmed this. The parliamentary group will have 28 members from nine countries – 14 of them from the AfD. With Maximilian Krah, who the delegation excluded from its ranks after the European elections, there are 15 AfD members in the new EU Parliament. However, according to the report, he will not be a member of the new parliamentary group.
To form a group in the European Parliament, 23 members from seven member states are needed. According to a report in the “Welt” newspaper, the AfD is proposing the name “Europe of Sovereign Nations” (ESN) to its new partners. The Thuringian MP René Aust is to become the group leader. The formation of the group is to be officially announced on Wednesday evening. Negotiations are currently ongoing about the positions of deputy chairpersons.
The expected partners in the right-wing alliance are Reconquête from France, Konfederacja from Poland, Wasraschdane (Rebirth) from Bulgaria, Se Acabó La Fiesta from Spain, SPD from the Czech Republic, Republika from Slovakia, Mi Hazánk Mozgalom from Hungary and the People and Justice Union from Lithuania. There have been successful talks about cooperation with all of the expected new partners, it was said. “The AfD will continue to keep the parliamentary group open to other delegations that would like to join,” said Weidel’s spokesman.
The chairman of the Czech ultra-right Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) party, Tomio Okamura, confirmed plans to form a joint parliamentary group with the AfD. “The parliamentary group’s program is directed against the Green Deal, migration and the Islamization of Europe,” said the 52-year-old, according to the CTK agency. The SPD is represented by only one member in the new EU Parliament. The nationalist Republika from Slovakia secured two seats in the European elections.
In the shadow of the other right-wing faction
The new group is likely to be overshadowed by the large right-wing group called “Patriots for Europe” in parliamentary operations in the coming years. The heavyweights of the European right have joined forces in this group: the right-wing nationalist Rassemblement National from France, Italy’s nationalist Lega, the FPÖ from Austria and Viktor Orban’s Fidesz from Hungary are involved. According to its own statements, this group will be the third strongest force with 84 MPs from twelve countries, behind the Social Democrats and the center-right EPP alliance, which also includes the CDU and CSU.
The AfD remained outside of this alliance, although it claims to have a lot of common ground with the parties involved. The specific reasons have so far remained unclear. AfD leader Weidel said that the partners in this alliance were subject to “political and also foreign policy and foreign trade constraints that we currently have to take into account.” The AfD leadership supports the theory that the German government, for example, could prevent Orban, in his role as Hungarian head of government, from working with the AfD.