“It will be interesting to see its electoral score next Sunday,” said an MEP from France’s Rassemblement National.
ADVERTISEMENTThe far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party could join the Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament after Germany’s federal elections on February 23.
Several sources confirmed to Euronews that the idea is making the rounds within the group but that there is currently no schedule for talks.
Patriots for Europe (PfE) is now the third-largest group in the Parliament, with 86 MEPs from 13 EU Member States, including some from France’s Rassemblement National, Italy’s Lega, and Hungary’s Fidesz.
One of its main figures, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, endorsed the party when he met AfD’s co-leader Alice Weidel in Budapest last week.
“It’s completely clear that the AfD is the future,” Orbán said then, highlighting convergences with his PfE-affiliated Fidesz party especially on migration policy.
As Orbán and other leaders emphasized during a Patriots’ gathering last week in Madrid, the group’s plan is to unite all like-minded parties across Europe, win national elections, and increase their presence in EU governments—to ultimately become “the new normal in Brussels.”
AfD is getting closer to Patriots for Europe
“There is a clear and unstoppable path to unity among conservative, patriotic, and sovereignist forces,” Spanish Patriots MEP Hermann Tertsch told Euronews. “Even if nobody can predict when this will happen, things are moving much faster than before.”
“Many of the reservations [within Patriots about AfD’s entry] no longer exist,” he added, because there is “a very positive process inside the party.”
Another hint for possible future cooperation came from Strasbourg last week where the heads of the AfD and Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) delegations said they would present a “new initiative” in a joint press conference only to cancel the event at the last minute.
In the previous parliamentary term, AfD was part of the Identity and Democracy (ID) group, alongside many of the now PfE parties, such as Lega, Rassemblement National (RN), and FPÖ.
But the German delegation was expelled from the group just before the June’s European elections after its lead candidate, Maximilian Krah, was forced to step down from the leadership board over allegations of espionage, corruption, and controversial remarks about the Nazi paramilitary group Waffen-SS.
One of the most critical parties was France’s Rassemblement National, estimating that some AfD members had crossed serious red lines by declaring that not all SS members were criminals and discussing plans to expel newly naturalised Germans from the country.
The French party still appears to be the main opponent to AfD’s entry within the group, with an RN source telling Euronews on condition of anonymity: “I think there’s still a blockage with the AfD.”
“If the AfD wants to exercise political responsibilities in Germany and the EU, it must clean up its own ranks,” an MEP from the French party told Euronews, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
ADVERTISEMENTHowever, the door might be open in the near future, especially since the controversial Maximilian Krah has been excluded from AfD’s delegation (he now sits among the non-attached MEPs), and AfD’s remigration plans don’t include German citizens with a foreign background.
“It is up to the AfD to prove in the future that it has learned the lessons from what we previously found unacceptable,” the MEP said, adding that “it will be interesting to see AfD’s electoral score in the German elections.”
RN’s position would be crucial, as it holds the largest delegation within the PfE group, and unanimity within the group is required to accept new members, as pointed out by a Patriots’ spokesperson.
A matter of money
ADVERTISEMENTAfter being expelled from ID, AfD secured 15.90% of the vote in the European elections, sending 15 MEPs to Strasbourg. The German party then formed a new group in the European Parliament: Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN), which currently has only 26 lawmakers from eight countries, making it the smallest group in the Chamber.
At least 23 MEPs from seven member states are required to form a group so ESN will not survive the withdrawal of AfD, the dominant force in the group.
But although joining PfE would increase AfD’s influence in European political debates, it could be counterproductive for its MEPs.
Being the main delegation in a political group means more funding from the Parliament and more speaking time during plenary sessions.
ADVERTISEMENTRemaining the largest delegation within the small ESN group would give AfD members more opportunities to speak and secure more funding than becoming just one of many delegations in a larger group like Patriots for Europe, a source told Euronews.
The AfD delegation was not immediately available to comment.
