German AfD launches third far-right group “Europe of Sovereign Nations”

Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), cut-off from many other far-right parties in the European Parliament, managed to launch its own parliamentary group, the third coalition to the right of the EPP in the European Parliament on Wednesday (10 July).

After the AfD realised that it had no chance of rejoining a group with Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National, the German delegation began to look for new allies and was able to establish its ‘Europe of Sovereign Nations’ group.

“We have joined forces because we are united in the goal of exerting a decisive influence on Europe’s political future through decisive action and a planned approach,” the new group’s co-president, René Aust (AfD), said after the constitutive meeting.

This path is “necessary to realise our common vision of a strong, united and future-oriented Europe of fatherlands,” he added.

Who else is on board?

The new group is dominated by a 14-member delegation from Germany, followed by smaller delegations from seven other nations, bringing the total number of MEPs to 25 – enough for the group to be officially recognised as an EU group.

However, it took the AfD some time to find like-minded parties willing to work with them.

While the French national elections further slowed down coalition-building by delaying the formation of Viktor Orban’s far-right Patriots of Europe group, which also ruled out including the AfD, some far-right parties have been shopping around for the group that would be most beneficial to them, further slowing down confirmations.

After long negotiations, the “Europe of Sovereign Nations” group looks like this: Leading the charge is the initiator, the AfD, with 14 members, followed by three each from the Polish Konfederacja and the ultra-nationalist Revival Party from Bulgaria. The Czech Svoboda a přímá demokracie (SPD), the Lithuanian Union of People and Justice, Republika from Slovakia, one Hungarian lawmaker and the sole remaining member of the French Recônquete each have one MEP.

Spain’s Se Acabo La Fiesta (SALF) was set to join the group as well, but did not sign at the last minute.

How far-right is too far-right?

Regarding how far to the right the EU group would go, the AfD was internally torn over the decision to form a new parliamentary group from fringe right-wing parties, as some feared a close association with more extreme nationalist views.

AfD co-leader Alice Weidel had previously made it a condition that “no anti-Semites” should have a place in a potential group with her party.

SOS Romania, a previous candidate to join the group, did not make the cut after the German delegation decided to scrutinise its potential partners more closely.

The same goes for Grzegorz Braun, the newly elected MEP who infamously extinguished a Hanukkah menorah in the national parliament and called Judaism a ‘satanic cult’, and Milan Mazurek from the Slovak Republic, who made derogatory remarks about the Holocaust. Neither are part of the ‘Sovereignists’, although others from their delegations have joined them.

Nevertheless, the Hungarian and French members are further to the right than their far-right compatriots in the Patriots for Europe group and have been critical of Orbán and Le Pen, respectively.

Three shades of grey

While rumours of a grand far-right alliance swirled around Brussels in the run-up to the European elections, the European Parliament is, at least for now, made up of three groups to the right of the largest group, the centre-right EPP.

After the failure of closer cooperation between Georgia Meloni’s hard-right ECR and Le Pen’s far-right ‘Patriots’, it remains to be seen how the AfD’s ‘Sovereignists’ will interact with the rest of the far-right in parliament.

For far-right expert Kai Arzheimer, it is clear that a rapprochement between Le Pen and the AfD is unlikely now that the French have kicked their German counterpart out of their former ID group.

“For Le Pen and others, the AfD is too close to classic right-wing extremism and is apparently no longer needed to form a parliamentary group. A rapprochement would be a fatal signal that would not go down well at home,” said Arzheimer.

[Edited by Chris Powers, Daniel Eck]

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