Czech party says it’s ready to announce new far-right group in European Parliament

Another day, another far-right group in the European Parliament!

The Czech Freedom and Direct Democracy party (SPD) said it and other far-right parties will announce the creation of a new group called Europe of Sovereign Nations in the European Parliament on Wednesday. However, it’s unclear if they have the numbers at this stage.

SPD leader Tomio Okamura made the comment at a press conference in Prague Tuesday, saying that Alternative for Germany (AfD) would be the strongest force in the group. He did not name any of the other members.

A new group needs at least 23 MEPs from 7 different countries.

“It’s a good deal for us,” said Okamura, adding that the group’s program was “against the Green Deal, against migration and … also against the Islamization of Europe. We want Brussels’ powers to return to the national level.”

The SPD has just one MEP: Ivan David, who was previously in the Identity and Democracy (ID) group. A spokesperson for Zsuzsanna Borvendég, a Hungarian MEP from Our Home Movement, confirmed that she will join the new group.

POLITICO previously reported that others in talks to join are the far-right Slovak MEP Milan Uhrík; 14 AfD MEPs; three MEPs from Bulgaria’s Revival; French Reconquest MEP Sarah Knafo; a Lithuanian MEP; and some members of the Polish Confederation party.

“I have not yet given them my decision,” Knafo told POLITICO, adding that a delegation from the AfD visited her in Paris to try to convince her to join.

“The Confederation party is still conducting negotiations and considering various scenarios regarding the future of Confederation MEPs,” said a spokesperson for the Polish far-right party.

Earlier this week, another new group was launched, Patriots for Europe, featuring MEPs belonging to the parties of Viktor Orbán and Marine Le Pen among others. It is now the Parliament’s third-largest force, with 84 MEPs.

While the majority of the parties that were in the ID group switched to Patriots for Europe, Okamura refused to follow suit, adding that he didn’t want to be in the same group as parties that “voted for the Green Deal and supported migration.” He was referring to the ANO party, which is led by former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and which was one of the founding members of Patriots for Europe.

AfD was expelled from the ID group following a series of scandals. AfD’s top candidate at the EU election, Maximilian Krah, who was at the center of many of those scandals before being kicked out of the party, won’t be in the new group, Okamura said.