Europe of Sovereign Nations

Europe of Sovereign Nations
European Parliament group
English abbr.ESN
French abbr.ENS
Ideology
Political positionFar-right[7]
From10 July 2024; 10 days ago (10 July 2024)
Chaired byRené Aust
Stanisław Tyszka
MEP(s)
25 / 720

Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN; French: L'Europe des Nations Souveraines; German: Europa Souveräner Nationen), also known as the Sovereigntists, is a far-right sovereigntist political group in the European Parliament, formed as the smallest group ahead of the 10th European Parliament. The largest delegation is the German Alternative for Germany (AfD). The group was founded on 10 July 2024.[8]

Founding

[edit]

Plans for the AfD to form a new political group called the Sovereignists became known shortly after the 2024 European Parliament elections. The AfD MEPs had been expelled from the Identity and Democracy (ID) Group shortly before the election due to reports of Nazi sympathising from the AfD leadership.[9] The AfD delegation excluded the lead candidate Maximilian Krah and led a failed attempt to be reinstated in the ID Group.[10] On 4 July 2024, Czech MEP Ivan David (SPD) announced the formation of a political group with the AfD. On July 8, 2024, the Patriots for Europe (PfE) parliamentary group was founded as the successor to the ID. Notably, the Czech SPD party, which previously belonged to the ID group, chose to not join PfE citing they did not want to be in the same group as those who “voted for the Green Deal and supported migration” in reference to Czech ANO party.[11]

The German AfD and the Czech SPD are both former members of the ID Group. The French Reconquête split, with four out of its five MEPs joining the European Conservatives and Reformists after their expulsion from the party. Their one remaining MEP joined the Europe of Sovereign Nations Group. On 12 April 2024, the Bulgarian Revival organized the 'Sofia Declaration' with the Slovak Republic, Dutch Forum for Democracy, Hungarian Our Homeland Movement, Alternative for Sweden and the Agricultural Livestock Party of Greece.[12] Czech Republic in First Place! also declared their interest in forming a "pacifist" and eurosceptic group to improve relations with Russia, along with parties like Republic.[13] Other parties speculated to join such group include Spanish Se Acabó La Fiesta (SALF) and Greek Victory.[14]

Due to his expulsion from AfD, Maximilian Krah sits as an independent MEP and his membership was rejected by Czech,[15] Polish and French members due to his statements about the SS and accusations of corruption by pro-Russian forces.[citation needed] In June, SALF denied any connections to the AfD.[16] The inclusion of the Romanian party S.O.S. Romania in the parliamentary group was also rejected by the AfD and Our Homeland,[17][18] while the participation of Polish KKP MEP Grzegorz Braun and Slovak Republic MEP Milan Mazurek were also rejected by the AfD. The Ruch Narodowy MEPs, who had contested the elections together with Braun and the New Hope as Konfederacja, spoke out against joining a parliamentary group in which the German AfD was involved.

At the constituent meeting, René Aust (AfD) and Stanisław Tyszka (NN) were elected co-chairpersons of the parliamentary group, with Sarah Knafo (Reconquête), Milan Uhrík (Republika) and Stanislav Stoyanov (Revival) elected as deputy chairpersons.[19]

MEPs

[edit]
Europe of Sovereign Nations has MEPs in 8 member states. Dark blue indicates member states sending multiple MEPs, light blue indicates member states sending a single MEP.
Main article: List of members of the European Parliament (2024–2029)

ESN is made up of eight members, which are as follows:[20]

State National party European party MEPs[21]
 Bulgaria Revival
Възраждане 		None[a]
3 / 17
 Czech Republic Freedom and Direct Democracy
Svoboda a přímá demokracie (SPD) 		ID Party
1 / 21
 France Reconquest
Reconquête (R!) 		None
1 / 81
 Germany Alternative for Germany[b]
Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) 		None[a]
14 / 96
 Hungary Our Homeland Movement
Mi Hazánk Mozgalom (MHM) 		None
1 / 21
 Lithuania People and Justice Union (Centrists, Nationalists)
Tautos ir teisingumo sąjunga (centristai, tautininkai) (TTS) 		None
1 / 11
 Poland New Hope[c]
Nowa Nadzieja (NN) 		None
3 / 53
 Slovakia Republic Movement[b]
Hnutie Republika 		None
1 / 14
 European Union Total
25 / 720
  1. ^ a b Formerly in ID Party but left/was expelled in 2024.
  2. ^ a b Not every member of the party has joined the group.
  3. ^ Part of the Confederation alliance. Its other members did not join.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Escritt, Thomas (2024). "Germany's spurned AfD creates third far-right EU parliament group". Reuters. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  2. ^ a b c Liboreiro, Jorge; Genovese, Vincenzo (2024). "AfD and allies form new far-right group in Brussels called Europe of Sovereign Nations". Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  3. ^ a b Reed, Betsy (2024). "Germany's AfD and extremist allies set up second EU parliament far-right group". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  4. ^ Benakis, Theodoros (2024-07-11). "Discover the new, extremist far-right group in the European Parliament". European Interest. Retrieved 2024-07-15.
  5. ^ Osvaldová, Lucia (2023-06-28). "Prezliekanie Republiky pokračuje, tvrdia, že sú protifašistickí bojovníci". Denník N (in Slovak). Retrieved 2023-08-08.
  6. ^ [4][5]
  7. ^ von Pezold, Pauline (2024). "New far-right group led by Germany's AfD founded in European Parliament". Politico. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
  8. ^ "AfD and allies form new far-right group: Europe of Sovereign Nations". euronews. 2024-07-10. Retrieved 2024-07-10.
  9. ^ "Germany's far-right AfD party expelled from European Parliament group". euronews. 23 May 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  10. ^ Neubert, Kjeld (20 June 2024). "German far-right gives up on ID to form own parliamentary group". euractiv. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  11. ^ Pezold, Pauline von; Wax, Eddy; Vinocur, Nicholas (23 May 2024). "Far-right ID group expels Alternative for Germany". POLITICO. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  12. ^ "Parties from Nine Countries Sign Joint Declaration at Vazrazhdane-Organized Conference". BTA. 12 April 2024.
  13. ^ Volby do Evropského parlamentu 2024. Czech Television (in Czech). 25 May 2024. Event occurs at 6:00. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
  14. ^ Federico Baccini (24 June 2024). "The far right in the EU Parliament in turmoil. AfD tries to lead a new group with those excluded". Eunews. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  15. ^ "Okamura nechce být ve stínu. SPD se v europarlamentu spojí s německou AfD". newstream (in Czech). Czech News Agency. 9 July 2024.
  16. ^ Antonio Rodríguez (29 June 2024). "Alvise copia la estrategia de Iglesias: seguirá en España y solo irá a Bruselas para los plenos". The Objective (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  17. ^ Dan Tăpălagă (28 June 2024). "EXCLUSIV Diana Șoșoacă și Luis Lazarus, europarlamentari SOS, respinși de partidul german de extremă dreaptă AFD / Europarlamentar AFD: Am avut o discuție cu cei de la SOS și am decis în unanimitate să nu îi primim în viitorul grup din Parlamentul European". G4 Media (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  18. ^ Toroczkai László [@ToroczkaiLaszlo] (10 July 2024). "Történelmi nap" (Tweet). Retrieved 10 July 2024 – via Twitter.
  19. ^ Jorge Liboreiro; Vincenzo Genovese (10 July 2024). "AfD and allies form new far-right group in Brussels called Europe of Sovereign Nations". Euronews. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
  20. ^ "AfD and allies form new far-right group: Europe of Sovereign Nations". euronews. 2024-07-10. Retrieved 2024-07-10.
  21. ^ "MEPs by Member State and political group". Retrieved 17 July 2024.
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