In a secret ballot, European Parliament officially asked the Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations (APPF), on Tuesday 7 July, by a large majority (414 votes in favour, 224 votes against and 18 abstentions), to verify whether the political party Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) complies with the European Union’s fundamental values (see EUROPE 13900/26).
Left-wing groups in the chamber welcomed this request, which responded to an alert initially raised by the APPF itself.
“We are saying to the European authority: ‘Do your job!’”, said the S&D chair, Iratxe García Pérez of Spain. Speaking on behalf of The Left group, Manon Aubry of France said that “racism has no place in Europe” and could “not be financed with European public money”. In the Greens/EFA group, Daniel Freund of Germany described Parliament’s request as a “yellow card for the AfD’s European party”. “The responsible authority must now examine whether a red card will follow”, he added.
Although it largely supported the formal referral to the European authority, the EPP group kept a low profile, keen to avoid politicising the process. It is a “technical” matter, stressed its chair, Manfred Weber of Germany.
The APPF will ask the European party ESN, which includes the German party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), to submit its observations within approximately one month. These observations will be forwarded to an internal committee of experts (made up of two representatives each from the European Parliament, the EU Council and the Commission), which will have two months to issue its opinion.
Based on this opinion, the APPF will be able to make a final decision, which could include suspending EU funding allocated to the ESN party. That decision would apply after a three-month period, during which Parliament and the EU Council could voice their objections.
In a press release, the ESN party “fundamentally” rejected the approach taken by the Members of European Parliament.
“Elected representatives must remain free to speak openly about the concerns of the people they represent, without the threat of administrative procedures or financial sanctions simply because their views challenge the political consensus”, it argued. Democracy in action, as Parliament describes itself, “means confronting ideas through free debate and elections, not allowing public authorities to decide which political opinions are acceptable”, it added.
On behalf of the ECR group, the Polish conservative Patryk Jaki said that the European Parliament had “a problem with democracy”. “The idea that a majority can appoint a body made up of like-minded people to examine the views of a minority is anti-democratic: it is outrageous, it is ridiculous, it is absurd”, he criticised. (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion with editorial staff)