Czech
party says it’s ready to announce new far-right group in European Parliament
Czech
Freedom and Direct Democracy says it will team up with the Alternative for
Germany.
BY KETRIN JOCHECOVÁ, EDDY WAX, HANNE COKELAERE AND CSONGOR
KÖRÖMI
Another day, another far-right group in the European
Parliament!
The Czech Freedom and Direct Democracy party (SPD) said it
and other far-right parties will announce the creation of a new group called
Europe of Sovereign Nations in the European Parliament on Wednesday. However,
it’s unclear if they have the numbers at this stage.
SPD leader Tomio Okamura made the comment at a press
conference in Prague Tuesday, saying that Alternative for Germany (AfD) would
be the strongest force in the group. He did not name any of the other members.
A new group
needs at least 23 MEPs from 7 different countries.
“It’s a good deal for us,” said Okamura, adding that the
group’s program was “against the Green Deal, against migration and … also
against the Islamization of Europe. We want Brussels’ powers to return to the
national level.”
The SPD has just one MEP: Ivan David, who was previously in
the Identity and Democracy (ID) group. A spokesperson for Zsuzsanna Borvendég,
a Hungarian MEP from Our Home Movement, confirmed that she will join the new
group.
POLITICO previously reported that others in talks to join
are the far-right Slovak MEP Milan Uhrík; 14 AfD MEPs; three MEPs from
Bulgaria’s Revival; French Reconquest MEP Sarah Knafo; a Lithuanian MEP; and
some members of the Polish Confederation party.
“I have not yet given them my decision,” Knafo told
POLITICO, adding that a delegation from the AfD visited her in Paris to try to
convince her to join.
“The Confederation party is still conducting negotiations
and considering various scenarios regarding the future of Confederation MEPs,”
said a spokesperson for the Polish far-right party.
Earlier this week, another new group was launched, Patriots
for Europe, featuring MEPs belonging to the parties of Viktor Orbán and Marine
Le Pen among others. It is now the Parliament’s third-largest force, with 84
MEPs.
While the majority of the parties that were in the ID group
switched to Patriots for Europe, Okamura refused to follow suit, adding that he
didn’t want to be in the same group as parties that “voted for the Green Deal
and supported migration.” He was referring to the ANO party, which is led by
former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and which was one of the founding
members of Patriots for Europe.
AfD was expelled from the ID group following a series of
scandals. AfD’s top candidate at the EU election, Maximilian Krah, who was at
the center of many of those scandals before being kicked out of the party,
won’t be in the new group, Okamura said.
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