UKIP Forms New European Grouping
UKIP today announced the launch of a new group in the European Parliament – the Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group.
The group will replace the now defunct Independence & Democracy Group and is comprised as follows…
Denmark: Dansk Folkeparti, 2 MEPs
Finland: True Finns, 1 MEP
France: Libertas (Mouvement pour la France – CPNT), 1 MEP
Greece: LAOS, 2 MEPs
Italy: Lega Nord, 9 MEPs
Netherlands: Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij, 1 MEP
Slovakia: Slovenská národná strana, 1 MEP
United Kingdom: UKIP, 13 MEPs
30 MEPs in total, from 8 countries, comfortably meeting the new threshold of 25 MEPs from 7 countries (was originally 20 MEPs from 6 countries).
Nigel Farage, UKIP leader and President of the new group said…
“I am delighted to announce the formation of this group. It is a cohesive and broad based Group that will be able to build on the effectiveness of the Independence/Democracy Group from the last Parliament.
It will be able to provide real opposition to the centralising consensus of the other groups. Something that this Parliament, and the free peoples of Europe have been crying out for”.
Whatever its final formation, the name reflects the Ukip-Lega-Nord axis that represents the core leadership of the new group. Italy’s Lega-Nord or Northern League, in government domestically, is to join with the British eurosceptics from their now defunct grouping in the parliament, the conservative Union for a Europe of the Nations (UEN).
It also seems that, reflecting Lega Nord’s strength, that the co-president of the group will be Francesco Speroni.
And while the group meets the necessary criteria, we shouldn’t be surprised if more join in the coming week or two…
Mr Farage said the party was still in negotiations with several other parties around Europe and hoped to bring more deputies on board before the first plenary session in Strasbourg on 14 July.
Mr Farage also outlined the new party’s four-point political programme on Wednesday, with the document placing strong emphasis on the principles of democracy and the sovereignty of nation states.
“The group favours an open, transparent, democratic and accountable co-operation among sovereign European states and rejects the bureaucratisation of Europe and the creation of a single centralised European superstate,” reads the programme.
It all looks rather good at the moment. Let’s hope the group is stronger than its Ind/Dem predecessor and manages to further the view of a Europe of independent and cooperating nations.
26 Responses to “UKIP Forms New European Grouping”
So that grouping again:
Dansk Folkeparti: anti-EU, anti-immigration, anti-Islamic right wing party
True Finns (Perussuomalaiset): anti-EU, anti-capitalist, extreme left wing party
Mouvement pour la France: eurosceptic but not anti-EU, virulently anti-Islamic and anti-immigration
LAOS (Popular Orthodox Rally): anti-semitic, anti-homosexual, "extreme-right", racist, xenophobic and ethnocentric"
Lega Nord a populist party described by its leader as "libertarian, but also socialist", virulently anti-immigration (especially from Moslem countries).
Staatkundig Gereformeerde Partij (Political Reformed Party): a sectarian Protestant Christian fundamentalist party whose past includes opposing women's suffrage and only recently (2006) allowing women to become members. Guess where they stand on gay rights or immigration.
Slovenská národná strana (Slovak National Party) describes itself as Christian, national and socialist. The party characterizes itself as right wing, but frequently described as ultra-nationalist, right-wing extremist and neo-fascist (because of its offensive and often racist statements about the Hungarians, the Roma, Jews and homosexuals).
and then there's the UKIP.
There's a clear thread in this grouping and it ain't pretty.
Well I can't disagree with your analysis, but it is true that Parliamentary Groupings in the EP are very different from party groupings in national Parliaments. Groups are formed more around that with which there is common agreement, and it just so happens that views on the size, power and structure of the EU cuts across all political views. Thus there is a group with parties who I certainly wouldn't dream of voting for, but whom share a common belief which is sympathetic to UKIP's views.
So politics makes strange bedfellows, but at least there remains a group which is eurosceptic and can continue to push for these beliefs.
Push for these beliefs? By doing exactly what? As I said in my post below, what are UKIP MEPs doing day to day? They are not going to Brussels where the majority of work takes place. So where are they?
Blimey all these nasty sounding people have been elected to represent us and make our laws too.
Do you know I'm begining to think that a federal EU administration isn't a very good thing, I wish I'd voted against it now….oh I was never asked and nor was anyone else.
You may as well join the tories in Europe with the fash and the "cranks".
I hope you don't think I'm being rude, but you obviously have little to no understanding of how the Parliament works. If you think that the Lega Nord and UKIP are going to provide any opposition to policies developed by the Parliament you should really have a lie down. You need to turn up in Brussels, in Committees, and argue a case. The slight problem being that neither UKIP nor Lega Nord have any real policy capacities, particularly when it comes down to the detail, and rather inconveniently, don't even turn up in Brussels. Their role as MEPs seems to extend no further than going to Strasbourg week, signing up for their 100 quid and then voting no to everything. You call that opposition? UKIP is a wasted vote and anyone supporting them has no grip on reality.
alisdair, UKIP MEPs are elected on a mandate of advancing the cause of getting Britain out of the European Union, not on a mandate of spending hour after hour sitting on Committees attempting to reform an unreformable system.
No Michael, they are elected to carry out the functions of an MEP. What you are saying is since they are opposed to the system they shouldn't enage in the system. So how is that a good use of taxpayers' money? What they should be doing is seeking to protect the interests of British business against the unintended consequences of Brussels legislation.
That means, first understanding what policy is coming out by attending Parliament committees and debating the issues. Second it means engaging with stakeholders, be they companies, trade associations, NGOs or trades unions in the UK to understand how these issues impact them. Thirdly it means coming to a group decision on how you wish to amend or block these policies from ever becoming law.
UKIP do none of those things, which to my mind, seems to resemble a full time job. So what are these people actually doing with their days? Do they have second jobs? Are they just having a laugh at our expense? I think we should be told.
No alisdair,
It is you who are wrong, they were elected to represent the views of the people who elected them and they want out of the EU.
Who did you send to represent you at the EU?
Given the nature of UKIP's new pals, particularly the Lega Nord, how can UKIP seriously claim to be a non-racist party unlike the BNP?
Oh dear. And I had very seriously considered voting UKIP too.
Just as well I didn't.
One example of their bedfellows – the leader of the Slovak National Party, Jan Slota, has a strong history of saying things like "The (ethnic) Hungarians are a cancer that must be cut out of the Slovak nation".
LAOS are no better.
Being Eurosceptic and Conservative can quite clearly be both honourable things. But far better to wash one hands than associate with – well, to varying degrees, pretty much all of these parties.
(The MPF in France are not too bad, I guess)
The point of electing MEPs to Europe is to put forward the UK's views in the European Parliament.
Based on these comments it reinforces that a vote for UKIP really is wasted.
Well done UKIP
Now plz run for Parliament at the next UK GE the people need you
And as for you alisdair (UKIP is a wasted vote and anyone supporting them has no grip on reality) Thats over half off the UK then. The EUssR will never have heart's mind's or soul off he uk people without a vote and there fore WILL fail fail fail
However loosely this aligns you with these ugly bedfellows in reality, it’s ammunition for your opponents. They’ll dig up every offensive statement by the leaders of these other parties and throw them at you at every opportunity. And I can see no easy defence. A non-racist, classically liberal party should have no truck with bigots like these, for any reason.
I’m glad I didn’t join, and am seriously reconsidering my next vote now. I still don’t believe that UKIP members are the closet racists of your opponents’ imaginations, but this move does call the leadership’s judgment into question.
Sam,
Exactly the same charges have been levelled at the Conservative party in Europe, have you also looked at the make up of the Socialist group?
The one big glaringly obvious thing is that all these extreme parties ( including the two BNP thugs from UK) have been elected to make our laws for us. Don't you think based on that we'd be better off out of the EU altogether?
Of course. That’s why I’ve voted UKIP before. And I didn’t say I won’t again, but I am reconsidering. (I certainly don’t trust the Tories’ record on the EU.)
It’s certainly true that EUnionists will throw accusations of extremism at anyone who favours national sovereignty, but I just wonder at the wisdom of cozying up to parties that genuinely are.
Do you know, I could swear that a UKIP MEP, one Nigel Farage, turned up at the European Parliament and in a wonderful speech took the lying sordid Godon Brown to pieces while he sat there with a face like a slapped arse. And in that speech he encapsulated why we should all support UKIP in any election we can. And so I will.
Another perfect example of someone who clearly doesn't understand how European policy is made, nor how the Parliament works. Farage turned up in Strasbourg, claimed his daily allowance, made a speech for You Tube and got on page 2 of the Daily Mail. Wow, what a contribution. In all of the proposals passed by Parliament in Strasbourg that week, I wonder how many were amended by Farage and his cronies during Brussels committee meetings. Hmmm, shall we guess at say….NONE. Could that be because these charlatans only turn up in Strasbourg to pick up their cash and are not prepared to do any worthwhile work that might actually change the laws Brussels makes. And why not, when you've got unedecated types like AlanL and Philip Watkins who will blindly vote for you oblivious to the facts. You lot deserve each other.
@alisdair
Can you not understand that UKIP do not want to engage with the EU bureaucrats. There would be no point, they will always be in the minority amongst the federalists and their votes will never really count. The only reason to turn up at in Strasbourg is to collect the cash AND use that cash to further the cause of getting the UK out of this corrupt, non-democratic institution as soon as possible. Unlike most of our own parliament's MPs whenever UKIP has discovered troughing by its MEPs it has ejected them from the party PDQ. If ever it is proven that UKIP are "institutionally" corrupt I will cease to support them, and will probably emigrate. In the meantime good on them. Every time I see Nigel giving them the truth, even on YouTube, I feel proud of the party I support.
alisdair · 5 hours ago You said.."I hope you don't think I'm being rude, but you obviously have little to no understanding of how the Parliament works" and now you tell ME I am uneducated and vote blindly oblivious to the facts. Well, I suppose somebody like you who has all the brains is bound to be far superior to me. Of course, that doesn't mean you have any common sense, because clearly you haven't. Education is an experience that has a formative effect on the mind and character, I wonder when your mind and character will develop?
Alan – I am sorry but when it comes to this particular subject you are displaying not much of a grasp of reality. No doubt there are plenty of subjects you know a lot about, and I don't. But I won't the mistake of claiming to either.
Well, Alisdair, and who are you to tell me about any grasp on reality I may or may not be displaying? You say that simply because you disagree with me, or rather that I don't follow your reasoning. St Augustine said…“It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” You have no humility, you have no manners, you are ignorant and intolerant. What a sad person you are and what a sad life you must live that you have to be so insulting at a moment's notice. As a matter of fact I was lied to by Edward Heath, back in the early 70s, when I supported a trading community, and I have never once been given the chance to vote on the EU since. Now, at the age of 70 I support a party that hopefully will simply ASK us what we want, not tell us what we WILL do!
For me it says a lot about UKIP in that there are absolutely no classical liberal eurosceptic parties that they can align themselves with in the EU parliament. They really are one-of-a-kind in the EU. Forming a coalition for a party like UKIP means sitting with bigots, racists and sectarians.
Okay, I apologise for being insulting although that honestly was not my intention.
The problem with this whole question is that government after government has not been straight with people about what the EU integration process actually means. I find UKIP as guilty as anyone else as they are all too content to denigrate the system, but profit from it as well.
Thank you Alisdair, and I accept you did not intend to be insulting. All too often people don't like other people's views, but that's not surprising. What IS so surprising is the manner of the reply. During my life I have merely given my view, and hopefully without bias. A reasoned argument is a sound argument, be it right or wrong. I don't agree that UKIP denigrates the system, but I accept your different view. As an ardent reader of the Bruges Group site, particularly the Euro-Creep by Robert Oulds, I am often astounded how much we are now European without a by your leave. As Robert says…"The UK has to be obey judgments made in Brussels which override decisions made by our own democratic institutions. What is more the British taxpayer has to pay Brussels £ billions each year for the ‘privilege’ of being bound by EU law", and I would like to be asked if I want to change that.