Eurosceptics form new bloc in Parliament

By Martin Banks

Date: 24/06/04

EUROSCEPTIC MEPs have joined forces to form a 31-strong political group in the newly elected European Parliament.

Veteran Danish MEP Jens-Peter Bonde, leader of the Europe of Democracies and Diversities group (EDD), yesterday (23 June) agreed to link up with the 12-strong UK Independence Party (UKIP).

Central to their joint Parliamentary campaign will be opposition to ratification of the constitutional treaty, agreed at last week's Brussels summit.

At least eight member states will hold a referendum on the treaty and the new alliance will push for a "No" vote in each.

Three other groups have also agreed to join the new alliance. They are:

l Sweden's new June List, a disaffected splinter from the Social Democrats that came from nowhere to win three seats on a platform of stopping power flowing to Brussels;

l Poland's pro-life Catholic League of Families (which has ten seats), and;

l the French "Souverainistes", led by Philippe de Villiers, which won three seats in the elections.

Two Dutch members of Bonde's EDD group, Johannes Blokland and Bastian Belder, will also join.

The new group will be officially launched next Tuesday (29 June).

As yet, it does not have a name, but the title EDD will be dropped.

Bonde and newly re-elected UKIP MEP Nigel Farage are expected to share the leadership for the first two-and-a-half years of the new legislature.

An option under discussion is that one Polish and one Swedish MEP will take over for the second half of the Parliament.

Bonde said the move will lead not only to a formidable Eurosceptic force, which might hold the balance of power in the 732-member assembly, but would also be financially beneficial. This is because Parliamentary groups are eligible for staff and funding. Under the Parliament's rules of procedures, 19 MEPs from at least five member states are necessary to constitute a political group.

With 12 MEPs, UKIP represents a serious catch for Bonde, who said: "Clearly, this new group could be a real force to be reckoned with. The measure of our initial success will be the number of "No" votes we can secure [in referenda on the constitution]."

UKIP leader, and newly elected MEP Roger Knapman, agreed, saying: "The eventual aim and ambition is to form a bloc of well over 30 members. But however many members we end up with, I can tell you we aim to make ourselves heard over the next few years."

UKIP is the only political party represented in the Parliament that calls explicitly for withdrawal from the EU. Although a sceptic, Bonde opposes his country's exit from the Union.

He calls for some powers to be given back to national parliaments: "I regard myself as Eurocritical while UKIP is, of course, Eurosceptic. But I see us as two sides of the same coin and see no problems with this arrangement," he said.

Farage said: "We may have some differences of opinion but we will be happy to fight together for this constitution to be rejected."

The EDD and UKIP now plan informal talks in the coming days with the leaders of other possible allies, including the Czech Republic's Civic Democratic Party, invigorated after the arrival of nine MEPs, and Poland's Self Defence party (seven seats).

Newcomers from Lithuania and Slovakia could also be interested in joining.

Some UK Conservative MEPs, currently part of the 283-strong European People's Party-European Democrats (EPP-ED), the assembly's largest political group, are said to have had second thoughts about staying with what is seen as a mainly federalist group in Parliament, while they defend Eurosceptic views.

Current tensions in the group were highlighted this week when re-elected Tory Roger Helmer hit out at the decision to renew the alliance between the EPP and the UK Conservatives.

"We scored a huge own goal by signing up for another five years with the EPP," Helmer said.

"I have lost count of the Tory voters who told me they would vote UKIP or who resigned from the party because of this issue."

An EPP spokesman said: "The worst-case scenario is that 18 members may leave but we're not overly concerned by any new Eurosceptic group."

Yet more deputies possibly looking for a political home include Paul van Buitenen, the Dutch whistleblower who helped bring down the Santer Commission in 1999.

Also "available" is Austria's Hans-Peter Martin, a Socialist MEP who was drummed out of the party for exposing alleged expenses-fiddling by his deputy colleagues. Each brings two MEPs with him.

Van Buitenen said: "There's a difference between being a Eurosceptic, which I am not, and being Eurocritical, which I am.

"I reckon there are about 20 MEPs of the same ilk and I may try to form a group with them."

MEPs from far-right groups, such as the Belgian Vlaams Blok and Jean-Marie Le Pen's Front National, will not, however, be welcome by the newly formed alliance.

Whatever their differences, though, the days when the Eurosceptics could be treated as just a minor nuisance are past, said one Parliament insider.

"The hardliners now have the whip hand," he said.

Eurosceptic MEPs in the new European Parliament have joined together to form a new Political Group.

• Primary Source

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