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 on 10 July 2024 as the smallest group ahead of the 10th European Parliament. Its members previously belonged to the Identity and Democracy group or were non-attached.[10]
Europe of Sovereign Nations | |
---|---|
European Parliament group | |
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English abbr. | ESN |
French abbr. | ENS |
Ideology | |
Political position | Far-right[9] |
From | 10 July 2024 |
Chaired by | René Aust Stanisław Tyszka |
MEP(s) | 25 / 720 |
History
editFormation
editPlans 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.[11] The AfD delegation excluded the lead candidate Maximilian Krah and led a failed attempt to be reinstated in the ID Group.[12] 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.[13]
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.[14] 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.[15] Other parties speculated to join such group include Spanish Se Acabó La Fiesta (SALF) and Greek Victory.
Due to his expulsion from AfD, Maximilian Krah sits as an independent MEP and his membership was rejected by Czech[16] and Polish 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.[17] The inclusion of the Romanian party S.O.S. Romania in the parliamentary group was also rejected by the AfD and Our Homeland,[18][19] while the participation of Polish KKP MEP Grzegorz Braun[20] and Slovak Republic MEP Milan Mazurek[21] 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.[22]
10th European Parliament (2024–present)
editAt 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.[23]
MEPs
edit10th European Parliament
editState | National party | European party | MEPs[24] | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Bulgaria | Revival Възраждане |
None[a] | 3 / 17
| |
Czech Republic | Freedom and Direct Democracy Svoboda a přímá demokracie (SPD) |
None[a] | 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
|
Organization
editPresidents
editCo-President | Took office | Left office | State (Constituency) |
Party | Co-President | Took office | Left office | State (Constituency) |
Party | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
René Aust | 10 July 2024 | present | Germany | Alternative for Germany |
Stanisław Tyszka | 10 July 2024 | present | Poland (Lower Silesian and Opole) |
New Hope |
Bureau
edit2024–present
editGroup bureau during the 10th European Parliament.[25]
Position | Name | State | National party | European party | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Co-President | René Aust | Germany | Alternative for Germany | None | |
Co-President | Stanisław Tyszka | Poland | New Hope | None | |
Vice-President | Sarah Knafo | France | Reconquête | None | |
Vice-President | Milan Uhrík | Slovakia | Republic Movement | None | |
Vice-President | Stanislav Stoyanov | Bulgaria | Revival | None |
Notes
editReferences
edit- ^ a b Escritt, Thomas (2024). "Germany's spurned AfD creates third far-right EU parliament group". Reuters. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
- ^ 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.
- ^ [1][2]
- ^ "AfD and allies form new far-right group: Europe of Sovereign Nations". Euronews. 10 July 2024. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
- ^ "European Union". Europe Elects. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
- ^ 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.
- ^ [5][6]
- ^ [1][2][6]
- ^ von Pezold, Pauline (2024). "New far-right group led by Germany's AfD founded in European Parliament". Politico. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
- ^ "AfD and allies form new far-right group: Europe of Sovereign Nations". Euronews. 10 July 2024. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
- ^ "Germany's far-right AfD party expelled from European Parliament group". euronews. 23 May 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ Neubert, Kjeld (20 June 2024). "German far-right gives up on ID to form own parliamentary group". euractiv. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ Pezold, Pauline von; Wax, Eddy; Vinocur, Nicholas (23 May 2024). "Far-right ID group expels Alternative for Germany". POLITICO. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
- ^ "Parties from Nine Countries Sign Joint Declaration at Vazrazhdane-Organized Conference". BTA. 12 April 2024.
- ^ Volby do Evropského parlamentu 2024. Czech Television (in Czech). 25 May 2024. Event occurs at 6:00. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
- ^ "Okamura nechce být ve stínu. SPD se v europarlamentu spojí s německou AfD". newstream (in Czech). Czech News Agency. 9 July 2024.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Romanian Diana Șoșoacă's party rejected by new far-right group in European Parliament". Romania Insider. 11 July 2024.
"At our request, the group rejected the application of the SOS Romania party to join," said Laszlo Toroczkai, a member of the Hungarian Our Homeland party, in a post on X. He motivated the request by saying that SOS Romania is anti-Hungarian.
- ^ "Split in Polish far-right Confederation as half its MEPs join Germany's AfD in new EU grouping". Notes from Poland. 10 July 2024.
German daily Die Welt reported that the AfD did not invite Braun to join the Sovereignists because they did not want to be associated with him due to his statements on the Holocaust
- ^ "Mazurek vysvetľuje odmietnutie od frakcie extrémistov: Na Googli sú moje fotky bez vlasov a obvinenia, že popieram holokaust". Dennik. 26 July 2024.
Dôvodom Mazurekovho neprijatia má byť ostražitosť poslancov z AfD, ktorí sa chcú vyhnúť škandálom a spájaniu sa s extrémistickými politikmi. [The reason for Mazurek's non-acceptance is said to be the vigilance of AfD deputies who want to avoid scandals and association with extremist politicians.]
- ^ "Confederation MEP rules out alliance with Germany's AfD, eyes other European groups". Remix News. 3 July 2024.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "MEPs by Member State and political group". Retrieved 17 July 2024.
- ^ "There is another group in the EU Parliament, even further to the right than the Patriots: it is "Europe of Sovereign Nations"". eunews. 10 July 2024.