The far-right political group Identity and Democracy (ID) in the European Parliament has chosen to expel the nine deputies from Germany’s Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, according to the members of the ID group.
This decision aligns with Tuesday’s announcement by the French far-right party National Rally (RN) stating they will no longer sit with AfD in the European Parliament.
AfD lead candidate, Maximilian Krah, was criticised for suggesting a SS member is "not automatically criminal", during a recent interview published in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
"The ID group's Executive Committee in the European Parliament has decided today to expel the German delegation, AfD, with immediate effect," Italy's Lega, which forms the primary delegation of the far-right group, said, adding, "The ID group no longer wishes to be associated with the incidents involving Maximilian Krah, AfD's top candidate for the European elections."
The move to eject AfD representatives is mainly symbolic, with less than three weeks until the European elections. The existing parliament will not congregate any longer.
Far-right reshuffle
On Wednesday, Belgian MEP and leader of the European Identity and Democracy (ID) group, Gerolf Annemans, confirmed "intense negotiations" were taking place for a reconfiguration of the far-right political groups within the European Parliament.
On Wednesday morning Krah issued a statement on social media announcing that he will not make any further campaign appearances for the upcoming elections and will step down from AfD's executive board, saying that "factual and differentiated statements of mine are being misused as a pretext to harm our party."
Headed by Italy's Marco Zanni (Lega), the ID group brought together 59 MEPs from eight countries until now, with the primary delegations comprising Italian Lega (23 members) and French RN (18).
Currently the sixth group in the European Parliament, the ID group falls behind the other nationalist and populist group, the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), which includes Fratelli d'Italia led by Italian government leader Giorgia Meloni. Polls predict these far-right forces, which could currently have around 30%, might gain up to 37% of the seats in the forthcoming elections.
