MEPs from the National Rally joined presidential candidate Eric Zemmour last week.
MEPs from the National Rally Jérôme Rivière and Gilbert Collard, who joined the far-right French presidential candidate Eric Zemmour last week, were excluded from the Identity and Democracy group in the European Parliament, where the RN sits.
Read also“This type of behavior disgusts the French with politics”: Le Pen reacts to the defections of Collard and Rivière
“The two elected officials had been suspended from the group by decision of the bureau” from group ID, “they have just been excluded by a group vote at 4:40 p.m.” RN MEP Philippe Olivier, close adviser to RN candidate for the French presidential election Marine Le Pen, told AFP.
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“A drift of mercenary”
Marine Le Pen had castigated Sunday “a drift of mercenaryand called on Jérôme Rivière and Gilbert Collard to give up their mandates as MEPs. The voters who elected them havevoted for the ideas of the RN, not for the ideas of Eric Zemmour“, she had argued. These departures bring to 21, instead of 23, the number of RN MEPs in the European Parliament. The RN delegation within the ID group, which was led by Jérôme Rivière, will now be led by Hélène Laporte. Gilbert Collard, contacted by AFP, said he wanted “challenge» these exclusions within European bodies.
Read alsoGilbert Collard leaves the RN and joins Éric Zemmour
Marine Le Pen, for her part, is due to meet allied parties in Europe on Friday and Saturday in Madrid, a meeting which follows that of Warsaw in December and ultimately aims to form a common group in the European Parliament, where these parties are divided into two separate groups. The candidate will be accompanied by MEP RN Nicolas Bay, first vice-president of the ID group and cited among those who, at the RN, would be tempted to join Eric Zemmour.