ITS group dissolved after anti-Romanian comments

The far-right Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty (ITS) group in the European Parliament has been dissolved after its five Romanian members quit in protest at anti-Romanian comments by Italian member Alessandra Mussolini.

Five Romanian MEPs from the Partidul România Mare (Greater Romania party) left the group, leaving it short of the 20 members needed to form a group under Parliament rules.

The MEPs will now miss out on the funds available for political groups.

Former ITS members have also lost the right to speaking time in plenary and will find it harder to propose amendments and resolutions.

Mussolini, grand-daughter of the Italian fascist leader, is reported to have said that "breaking the law" had "become a way of life for Romanians" after the death of a woman in Rome following a robbery allegedly by a Romanian. The public outcry following the woman’s death prompted Italy’s centre-right government to pass laws allowing the expulsion of immigrants on public safety grounds.

News of the demise of the ITS group was welcomed by senior MEPs. Graham Watson, leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), said that the group’s basic philosophy was "a distrust of foreigners" which made ITS a contradiction in terms. Watson added that "the irony of a Mussolini destroying the coherence of a far-right group will not be lost on Europeans from Bucharest to Brindisi".

Martin Schulz, leader of the Socialist MEPs, said: "It is good news that the ‘International’ of the ultra-nationalists no longer exists and cannot use the money of the European taxpayer to support its xenophobia and neo-fascism."

The group, which was led by French Front National MEP Bruno Gollnisch, also included seven French MEPs, three Flemish MEPs, three Bulgarians, two Italians as well as one UK member, Ashley Mote, who is currently servicing a prison sentence for housing benefit fraud.

The far-right Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty (ITS) group in the European Parliament has been dissolved after its five Romanian members quit in protest at anti-Romanian comments by Italian member Alessandra Mussolini.