Europe of Sovereign Nations Group
Europe of Sovereign Nations | |
---|---|
European Parliament group | |
English abbr. | ESN |
Ideology | |
Political position | Far-right |
From | 10 July 2024 |
Chaired by | René Aust Stanisław Tyszka |
MEP(s) | 25 / 720
|
Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN; French: L'Europe des Nations Souveraines; German: Europa Souveräner Nationen), also known as the Sovereigntists is a far-right political group in the European Parliament in the tenth legislature from 2024. The largest delegation is the German Alternative for Germany (AfD). The group was founded on July 10, 2024.[2]
Founding
Plans for the AfD to form a new political group called the Sovereignists became known shortly after the 2024 European Parliament elections. The AfD MEPs had been expelled from the Identity and Democracy (ID) Group shortly before the election due to reports of Nazi sympathising from the AfD leadership.[3] The AfD delegation excluded the lead candidate Maximilian Krah and led a failed attempted to be reinstated in the ID Group.[4] On 4 July 2024, Czech MEP Ivan David (SPD) announced the formation of a political group with the AfD. On July 8, 2024, the Patriots for Europe (PfE) parliamentary group was founded as the successor to the ID. Notably, the Czech SPD party, which previously belonged to the ID group, chose to not join PfE citing they did not want to be in the same group as those who “voted for the Green Deal and supported migration” in reference to Czech ANO party.[5]
The party is primarily made-up of the German AfD and Czech SPD parties with the remainder coming from parties who have entered the European Parliament for the first time. The French Reconquête was represented in the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) through defections at the end of the previous parliamentary term; following a split in the party, only MEPs who had been expelled from the party joined the ECR. On 12 April 2024, the Bulgarian Revival organized the 'Sofia Declaration' with the Slovak Republic, Dutch Forum for Democracy, the Swiss Mass Voll, Hungarian Our Homeland Movement, Alternative for Sweden and the Agricultural Livestock Party of Greece.[6] Czech Republic in First Place! also declared their interest in forming a "pacifist" and eurosceptic group to improve relations with Russia, along with parties like Republic.[7] Other parties speculated to join such group include Spanish Se Acabó La Fiesta (SALF) and Greek Victory.[8]
Due to his expulsion from AfD, Maximilian Krah sits as an independent MEP and his membership was rejected by Czech,[9] Polish and French members due to his statements about the SS and accusations of corruption by pro-Russian forces.[citation needed] In June, SALF denied any connections to the AfD.[10] The inclusion of the Romanian party S.O.S. Romania in the parliamentary group was also rejected by the AfD and Our Homeland,[11][12] while the participation of Polish KKP MEP Grzegorz Braun and Slovak Republic MEP Milan Mazurek were also rejected by the AfD. The Ruch Narodowy MEPs, who had contested the elections together with Braun and the New Hope as Konfederacja, spoke out against joining a parliamentary group in which the German AfD was involved.
At the constituent meeting, René Aust (AfD) and Stanisław Tyszka (NN) were elected co-chairpersons of the parliamentary group, with Sarah Knafo (Reconquête), Milan Uhrík (Republika) and Stanislav Stoyanov (Revival) elected as deputy chairpersons.[13]
Members
ESN is made up of eight members, which are as follows:[14]
State | National party | European party | MEPs | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bulgaria | Revival Възраждане |
None | 3 / 17
| ||
Czech Republic | Freedom and Direct Democracy Svoboda a přímá demokracie (SPD) |
ID Party | 1 / 21
| ||
France | Reconquest Reconquête (R!) |
None | 1 / 81
| ||
Germany | Alternative for Germany[a] Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) |
None | 14 / 96
| ||
Lithuania | People and Justice Union (Centrists, Nationalists) Tautos ir teisingumo sąjunga (centristai, tautininkai) (TTS) |
None | 1 / 11
| ||
Poland | New Hope[b] Nowa Nadzieja (NN) |
None | 3 / 53
| ||
Hungary | Our Homeland Movement Mi Hazánk Mozgalom (MHM) |
None | 1 / 21
| ||
Slovakia | Republic Movement[a] Hnutie Republika |
None | 1 / 14
| ||
European Union | Total | 25 / 720
|
- ^ a b Not every member of the party was accepted into the group.
- ^ Part of the Confederation alliance. Its other members did not join.
References
- ^ a b c d Baccini, Federico (2024). "There is another group in the EU Parliament, even further to the right than the Patriots: it is "Europe of Sovereign Nations"". Parties and Elections in Europe. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ "AfD and allies form new far-right group: Europe of Sovereign Nations". euronews. 2024-07-10. Retrieved 2024-07-10.
- ^ "Germany's far-right AfD party expelled from European Parliament group". euronews. 23 May 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ Neubert, Kjeld (20 June 2024). "German far-right gives up on ID to form own parliamentary group". www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ Pezold, Pauline von; Wax, Eddy; Vinocur, Nicholas (23 May 2024). "Far-right ID group expels Alternative for Germany". POLITICO. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ "Parties from Nine Countries Sign Joint Declaration at Vazrazhdane-Organized Conference". BTA. 12 April 2024.
- ^ Volby do Evropského parlamentu 2024. Czech Television (in Czech). 25 May 2024. Event occurs at 6:00. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
- ^ Federico Baccini (24 June 2024). "The far right in the EU Parliament in turmoil. AfD tries to lead a new group with those excluded". Eunews. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ "Okamura nechce být ve stínu. SPD se v europarlamentu spojí s německou AfD".
- ^ Antonio Rodríguez (29 June 2024). "Alvise copia la estrategia de Iglesias: seguirá en España y solo irá a Bruselas para los plenos". The Objective (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ Dan Tăpălagă (28 June 2024). "EXCLUSIV Diana Șoșoacă și Luis Lazarus, europarlamentari SOS, respinși de partidul german de extremă dreaptă AFD / Europarlamentar AFD: Am avut o discuție cu cei de la SOS și am decis în unanimitate să nu îi primim în viitorul grup din Parlamentul European". G4 Media (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ Toroczkai László [@ToroczkaiLaszlo] (10 July 2024). "Történelmi nap" (Tweet). Retrieved 10 July 2024 – via Twitter.
- ^ Jorge Liboreiro; Vincenzo Genovese (10 July 2024). "AfD and allies form new far-right group in Brussels called Europe of Sovereign Nations". Euronews. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ "AfD and allies form new far-right group: Europe of Sovereign Nations". euronews. 2024-07-10. Retrieved 2024-07-10.