Brussels, 11/01/2007 (Agence Europe) - “I am very worried about the formation of a far right group in the European Parliament,” said German Social Democrat and chairman of the Parliament's constitutional affairs committee Jo Leinen in a press release. He suggests amending EP internal rules so as to require political groups to accept European values and principles, as is the case for European political parties. He says the President of the EP should also be able to impose sanctions on certain types of statements. Anti-semitic and xenophobic slogans must not be tolerated, he says. And he went on that those who preach racism and nationalism, and therefore undermine the values and aims of the European Union, should not be able to benefit from funding or positions in the European Parliament.
While regretting the formation of the “Identity, tradition, sovereignty” grouping (see EUROPE 9341), the Greens/EFA group, nonetheless, believes the new group will remain “marginal” within the EP. “The likely formation of an extreme right group in the EP is a sad reflection of the reality of today's Europe. … In practice not much will change, however. The extreme right MEPs already sit in this house and the fact that they are organised in a political group will not give them more influence in the EP. They will remain marginal,” say Monica Frassoni and Daniel Cohn-Bendit, joint leaders of the group. The Greens intend to continue “the political fight against the opprobrious ideas of the extreme right” to ensure that after the 2009 European elections, there will no longer be an extreme right group in Parliament.
British Liberal MEP Diana Wallis, commenting on reports that Ashley Mote, MEP for the anti-European UKIP would join the extreme right group, said, “Finally the true nature of UKIP is exposed. One may think they are voting for anti-European sentiments by ticking the UKIP box, but this latest move by Ashley Mote shows a much darker and sinister side to the party. Let's be absolutely clear, this new parliamentary group are fascist. Mr Mote's new colleagues include Jean-Marie Le Pen and Alessandra Mussolini, and its leader (Bruno Gollnisch) is on trial for holocaust-denial. This should be a wake up call for those in Britain considering voting for UKIP in future elections”. (mb)