Identity and Democracy
Europe of Nations and Freedoms
| Austria | Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs | Herbert Kickl |
| Czech Republic | Svoboda a prímá demokracie | |
| Italy | Lega | |
| Denmark | Dansk Folkeparti | |
| Estonia | Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond | |
| Flanders | Vlaams Belang | |
| France | Rassemblement National | Le Pen |
| Germany | Alternative für Deutschland | |
| Netherlands | Partij voor de Vrijheid | Geert Wilders |
A new anti-European Union bloc, to be known as “Europe of Nations and Freedoms,” was created in the European Parliament, the factions’s co-chair, French far-right politician Marine Le Pen, announced 16 June 2015. “We want to be masters in our own countries,” Le Pen said at a press-conference in Brussels.
According to one of the bloc's members, head of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) Geert Wilders, Europe of Nations and Freedoms will fight against mass migration and the Islamization of Europe, which, he stressed, was not Islamophobia but a fight for European countries' own values.
The new group was expected to be formed of 36 MEPs, mostly from Le Pen’s FN, but also from the Dutch anti-Islam Party for Freedom, led by Geert Wilders, the Freedom Party of Austria, Lega Nord from Italy and Vlaams Belang from Belgium.
Hungary’s radical nationalist Jobbik party told news site mandiner.hu that none of its MEPs would join Marine Le Pen’s newly formed far right bloc in the European Parliament (EP). Jobbik also said that they did not receive any kind of invitation to the group. Hungarian news portal index.hu said earlier, that it was Krisztina Morvai who could team up with Le Pen’s EP group. Jobbik have not joined any other EP group so far, because the party has a rather bad reputation even among European far right parties, index.hu added.
A former Ukip MEP has defected from Nigel Farage’s European parliamentary group to join a new far-right alliance led by the French Front National (FN) Marine Le Pen. Janice Atkinson, who represents the south-east of England, praised the “great courage and leadership” of Le Pen as she became vice-president of the new Europe of Nations and Freedom, enabling it to qualify for millions of euros in public funding. Atkinson was expelled from Ukip before the election over allegations that a member of her staff tried to inflate an expenses bill, less than a year after she was elected for the party.
According to research by think tank Open Europe, based on 38 MEPs, the new group could apply for funding worth around €17.5m over the remaining four years of the parliament.
The UK Independence Party (UKIP) saw no rationale in joining the newly-formed Europe of Nations and Freedom Eurosceptic group in the European Parliament, a British member of the European Parliament told Sputnik 18 June 2015. “UKIP has already formed the EFDD [Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy] group,” Diane James, who was also UKIP’s spokeswoman for home affairs, said. “There is absolutely no reason, justification or rationale for it to even consider linking with this group or the FN.”
James explained that Europe of Nations and Freedom is a far-right coalition, while UKIP is not a far-right political party. “Madam Le Pen has brought together a series of parties, which were elected to the European Parliament but which, until now, had not had a 'front bench' role or voice,” James said. She added that the new group's first and immediate challenge would be to make their voice heard.
At the European Parliament, Austria’s far-right Freedom Party [FPO] is part of the Identity and Democracy group, which it co-founded in 2015 (then called the Europe of Nations and Freedoms). The group is the sixth-largest in the current European Parliament, with 59 MEPs from eight countries. If the populist parties do well in the 09 June 2024 election, FPO is hoping to unite the Identity and Democracy group under a “common roof” with the parties of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, which shares ideologies with the Freedom Party. Seeing the FPO win more seats in the European Parliament is a credible scenario. If voting intentions are confirmed, the FPO could win three more seats in Strasbourg.
It seems that the far-right Alternative for Germany party had become too extreme even for the European parties that belong to the far right. The parties that are allied within the “Identity and Democracy” bloc in the European Parliament agreed 23 May 2024 to expel the “Alternative for Germany” party from the group. The far-right parties, which include among their ranks the French National Rally party led by Marine Le Pen, agreed to expel the German party “for fear of its reputation,” after statements made by the head of the German bloc, Maximilian Krah, to the Italian newspaper La Repubblica, in which he said that it could not be counted. All fighters of the Nazi SS, known as the SS, are “criminals.” The SS forces were classified as terrorists in Germany after the end of the Nuremberg Trials, in which the Nazis were tried for their crimes during World War II. She was responsible for the Nazi concentration and death camps.
In light of the uproar caused by his statements he made last weekend, the Alternative for Germany party punished its candidate Krah and the head of its list by preventing him from appearing in the party’s propaganda campaigns, and forced him to resign from his leadership position in the party’s Federal Committee. However, Krah remained a candidate and leader of the list in the upcoming elections. It became clear after a few hours that this “punishment” was not enough for the European far-right parties allied with the “Alternative for Germany,” as the German newspaper “Die Welt” reported in the morning that the Italian “Lega” party had submitted a request to the group calling for the exclusion of the German party and its 9 deputies. About agglomeration. The proposal was approved by the majority of participating parties, despite the Alternative for Germany's attempt to convince the bloc to keep it after announcing that it would exclude Krah from the group. Only the Alternative for Germany and the Austrian Freedom Party voted against the Italian proposal.
According to Die Welt newspaper, the letter calling for the exclusion of the German party included justifications related to Krah’s personal involvement “in a group of incidents that harmed the unity and reputation of the bloc.” Before the bloc's decision, Le Pen had announced that she wanted to exclude the Alternative Party, describing it as having become "under the influence of radical groups and not being led." She pointed out that the party “is moving from one provocation to another.”
Deputies from the German party tried to avoid expulsion, and Christine Anderson, a deputy in the bloc, wrote to the party leadership in Berlin saying that she had concluded “after many conversations” with members of the bloc that the problem was not with the Alternative for Germany party, but she added that “our partners have a big problem with the AfD.” Hate. She urged the party to “distance itself” from Krah in an attempt to save the alliance with the Europeans, which led to the party’s decision to remove Krah from his leadership position, and prevent him from appearing in public events.
Indeed, before Krah's statements to the Italian newspaper, Krah's name was linked to another scandal about two weeks ago after the German authorities arrested his assistant, Jian J. He is Chinese and holds German citizenship, after being accused of spying for China. Although no charges were brought against him, suspicions also surround him due to his suspicious relations with China, which he visited more than once on trips paid for by the Chinese Communist Party.
But the dissatisfaction of the European parties goes beyond these two events. At the end of last year, details leaked about a secret meeting in which representatives from the Alternative Party and the party’s assistant leader, Alice Weidel, participated. It was held in the city of Brandberg, adjacent to Berlin, and discussed the deportation of millions of immigrants and Germans of immigrant origins. The meeting, which was leaked by the German investigative website Correctiv, caused shock in Germany, and comparisons were made to the Nazi meeting in Brandberg as well, which discussed the “Final Solution” that led to the Holocaust.
The Alternative for Germany later justified the posts by saying that they were individual decisions and did not represent the party's policy. Weidel fired her assistant, who participated in the meeting. However, relations between Weidel and leaders of other far-right European blocs have since begun to become strained. The German tabloid newspaper Bild reported that Le Pen met Weidel in Paris last February, but was “embarrassed” even to appear with her. The newspaper said that a video taken by a cameraman for the German Channel 2 showed that Weidel waited inside the restaurant where the two women met until Le Pen left, and then left after her. The newspaper analyzed that Le Pen wanted to avoid appearing next to the German party leader.
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