German far-right give up on ID to form own parliamentary group

The German far-right AfD has set its eyes on creating its own parliamentary group, abandoning plans to seek readmission into the Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament.

While the initial plan of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) following the election was to pave the way to rejoin ID by excluding their lead candidate, Maximilian Krah, from their ranks, the party is now looking at creating its own group instead, multiple party sources told Euractiv.

“We are actively working on [forming a group] and talking to people here [in the European Parliament], one of the sources stated.

Another party source told Euractiv that most of the delegation initially hoped to rejoin the ID group as the idea of forming a faction of minor parties was not appealing. For them, the long-term goal of creating powerful alliances on the far right prevailed—until now.

The prospects of rejoining the ID group anytime soon were crushed last week when the ID leadership convened and decided against the readmission of their former German colleagues.

The AfD delegation’s hand was forced: Either move now to find new allies or wait and hope to be granted access to the ID at the mercy of Le Pen—as one of the last unaffiliated parties, risking being left without a group entirely.

One source said the decision was made to avoid this danger, and negotiations with far-right parties to establish a new group are progressing.

Some sources from within the AfD said that potential members would mainly stem from the Sofia declaration, initiated in April 2024 by the Bulgarian party Vazrazhdane, which brought together nine far-right parties that demand peace negotiations regarding the Russian war in Ukraine and stopping the “unaccountable bureaucracy” of the European Union.

Another AfD source involved in the negotiations told Euractiv to expect a broader range of candidates so that to form a parliamentary group, at least 23 lawmakers from seven different member states must converge.

Euractiv understands that an announcement by the new group could happen as early as the beginning of next week.

Members from the fringes

Among the potential members of this new group are parties on the far-right fringes.

Euractiv expects that possible candidates could be: Vazrazhdane (Bulgaria), Se Acabó La Fiesta (SALF, ‘The Party is Over’) from Spain, SOS Romania, the Slovakian Hnutie Republika (Republic Movement), NIKH from Greece, Mi Hazank Mozgalom (Our Homeland Movement) from Hungary and the Polish Konfederacjia or their more extreme sibling Ruch Narodowy.

Another addition could be Reconquête’s Sarah Knafo, who did not join the ECR like her former colleagues.

Milan Uhríj from the Hnutie Republika told Euractiv that they “are in touch with all relevant right-wing political parties […] Discussions are going on. We will see in the next few days.”

However, one source said that the delay in nominating the president of the Commission had thrown a wrench into a speedy agreement among the group’s potential new members.

Italy’s Giorgia Meloni still holds back her support for Ursula von der Leyen, which keeps the possibility open for her ECR group to form a grand alliance with Marine Le Pen’s ID group.

The allure of being part of such a powerful right-winged group keeps some undecided parties on the edge.

Too extreme for the far-right ID

Just a few weeks before the European elections, the AfD was kicked out of its parliamentary group, Identity and Democracy (ID), over several scandals involving leading EU candidates.

The other national parties within ID feared that close association with the AfD, due to the party’s radical views and several spy scandals, would hurt their own election ambitions.

A party source explained that for the new EU delegation leader of the AfD, René Aust, it would be beneficial to form new party alliances in Brussels within the next ten days before the upcoming federal party conference at the end of this month.

Aust some criticism from voters loyal to Krah, who was not accepted back into the delegation when the idea to keep the option open for the AfD to be led into the ID group again still prevailed. 

According to the assumption of a couple of AfD sources, the fact that the new powerhouse of the ID, Le Pen’s Rassemblement National, is now facing a national vote shut down the possibility for the Germans to be led into the ID group shortly after the European elections.

Allegedly, Le Pen strong-armed the rest of the group to keep the AfD out of the group, because she does not want to be seen together with her former EU-colleagues during the election campaign.

While some AfD sources still mentioned the slight possibility of being able to rejoin the ID group after the final national elections in France on 7 June, the timing is not on the Germans’ side, as new and factionless parties will not wait that long to join a group.

*Max Griera contributed to the reporting

[Edited by Alice Taylor]

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