After the dispute with Marine Le Pen, the AfD became non-partisan in the EU Parliament. Now the party has found new partners. But the “Europe of Sovereign Nations” group is not very appetizing.
There is no doubt that the AfD would have been happy to be involved in the founding of the “Patriots for Europe”. The new right-wing faction in the European Parliament was the subject of much discussion in Brussels at the start of the week.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and Austrian FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl founded the alliance the previous week. On Monday, Marine Le Pen’s French Rassemblement national joined them. Geert Wilders’ party and Matteo Salvini’s Lega are also involved. Together, the “Patriots” are now the third-strongest group in Brussels and Strasbourg, with 84 MEPs.
Krah is not there
But where should the AfD stand in this situation? Five years ago, the chemistry with Le Pen, Wilders and Salvini was still good. Today, the party, which rose to become the second strongest force in Germany with almost 16 percent in the European elections in June, is hardly able to connect at the EU level.
On Wednesday, the AfD delegation leader René Aust gave the answer: Under the name “Europe of Sovereign Nations” (ENS), the Alternative Party, together with other right-wing parties, had founded a new parliamentary group. This alliance included 28 MPs from 9 member states – among them 14 from the AfD alone. At least 23 MPs from 7 member states are necessary to form a parliamentary group in the EU Parliament.
The next largest delegations after the AfD are the Polish Konfederacja, the Wasraschdane (Rebirth) party from Bulgaria and Se acabó la fiesta (The party is over) from Spain, each with three MPs. Also represented with one MP each are the Reconquête (Reconquest) party from France, the Party for Freedom and Direct Democracy from the Czech Republic, Mi Hazánk Mozgalom (Our Homeland) from Hungary, Republika from Slovakia and the Union for People and Justice from Lithuania.
Including Maximilian Krah, there are actually 15 AfD representatives in the new EU Parliament. But the delegation excluded the Saxon from its ranks after the European elections because it had not forgiven him for the dispute with Le Pen, and it does not want him among the “sovereignists” now either. Krah had made trivializing comments about the crimes of the Waffen-SS in an Italian newspaper, which was the last straw for Le Pen.
The Frenchwoman could not use right-wing radical tones in the European election campaign and ensured that the AfD was expelled from the then joint “Identity and Democracy” parliamentary group. Ironically, Krah of all people then argued for making a pact with the much more radical parties in Europe and not taking the path of compromise.
The parties that are now part of the ENS group alongside the AfD belong to the far right in parliament. They partly refer to the so-called Sofia Declaration, which was initiated by the pro-Russian Wasraschdane. It states that Europe’s civilisation is “threatened by the aggression of globalist ideologies” and that the peoples’ right to self-determination is “replaced by the dictatorship of a bureaucracy”. In view of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, immediate peace negotiations are called for.
«Right-hand leftover ramp»
The leader of the Wasraschdane, Kostadin Kostadinov, incites hatred against gays and Roma and admires Putin. There are also unsavory characters in the Polish Confederacy, such as MP Grzegorz Braun, who made headlines last year when he used a fire extinguisher to destroy a Jewish Hanukkah candlestick in the Polish parliament.
Because AfD co-chair Alice Weidel had stipulated that the faction should not include any anti-Semites, Braun was not allowed to become part of the ENS group. Two other Konfederacja MPs also did not join the faction because they did not want to subordinate themselves to the Germans.
This is why there is also criticism of the new faction behind closed doors within the AfD. One insider complains that the parties with which the party is forced to go to bed are the “leftovers of parliament”, the “ugly ducklings” that no one else wants.
Without the parliamentary group status, the AfD would have had to forego financial resources, more speaking time in parliamentary debates and seats on specialist committees. It will now be able to reap these benefits, but it is questionable how stable the basis is on which they want to work together politically for five years.