After being excluded from the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament, the AfD is apparently planning to form a new group under the name “The Sovereignists”. An AfD loyalist has asked the parliament for a room for 100 people and catering for “the constitutive meeting of a new group”, reported “Spiegel” on Saturday, citing an internal email.
According to the “Spiegel”, possible members of the new faction could be the right-wing extremist parties SOS Romania, Se Acabó La Fiesta (The Party is Over) from Spain, the NIHK (Democratic Patriotic Movement) from Greece, the Konfederacja Wolnosc i Niedpodleglosc (Confederation of Freedom and Independence) from Poland, the Hnutie Republika (Republic Movement) from Slovakia and the Hungarian party Hazank Mozgalom (Our Homeland). Sarah Knafo from the French Reconquête, partner and advisor of party leader Eric Zemmour, could also join.
According to “Spiegel”, the group’s basis is the so-called Sofia Declaration of the pro-Russian right-wing extremist party Rebirth (Vasrazhdane) from Bulgaria from April 2024, which calls for an end to EU bureaucracy. European civilization is “threatened by the aggression of globalist ideologies”, the right of peoples to self-determination is “replaced by the dictatorship of a bureaucracy”, the declaration said. With a view to the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, “peace negotiations” are called for.
The AfD was excluded from the ID after its top candidate Maximilian Krah made trivialising statements about the SS and is currently non-partisan. In the European Parliament elections two weeks ago, right-wing parties recorded a significant increase. While in Germany the AfD came in second place with 15.9 percent of the vote, right-wing populist parties became the strongest force in France, Italy and Austria. However, the strongest force in the EU Parliament remained the European People’s Party (EPP) made up of the CDU and CSU, ahead of the Alliance of Social Democrats (S
The second far-right group in the EU Parliament, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, hopes to become the third strongest force in the Parliament after new members from France. The group also includes the party of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Fratelli d’Italia (Brothers of Italy).