France's second far-right party, Reconquête!, led by Eric Zemmour, has joined the European Conservative and Reformist political group in the European Parliament, pushing the group more towards the extreme right.
On Wednesday, French MEP Nicolas Bay announced in Strasbourg that his party will join the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, just a few months ahead of the European elections, Belga reports.
Eric Zemmour was the second far-right 2022 French presidential candidate (after Marine Le Pen). He has also been convicted of homophobic hate speech and has faced accusations of sexual misconduct.
His party's addition to the ECR will greatly boost the political group's large far-right faction.
The group, set up by former British Prime Minister David Cameron in his failed attempts to prevent Brexit, began as a soft Eurosceptic movement calling for a reform of EU powers.
However, it has since acted as the vehicle for the normalisation of Eurosceptic views – from the Brothers of Italy to Poland's Law and Justice Party – which often translate to extreme conservatism on other issues.
"All the delegations supported the arrival of Reconquête!" said Marion Maréchal Le Pen, head of the Reconquête! list for the European elections, and granddaughter of the founder of the French National Front, Jean-Marie Le Pen. She is also married to Vincenzo Sofo, a Milanese Brothers of Italy MEP, who also sit in the ECR.
ECR Group meets with Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. Credit: EP Photo
With 68 MEPs, the ECR group is currently the fifth largest political force, behind the EPP (right), S&D (left), Renew (centrists) and the Greens. Under some polls, it could jump up to become the third biggest party – banking on the electoral success of its political parties in the national elections.
Some of the national formations in the group are in power in their countries or regions, notably Giorgia Meloni's far-right Brothers in Italy party, the Civic Democrats (ODS) in the Czech Republic and the Flemish nationalists, N-VA in Flanders (at the regional level).
On the far-right, it also includes Spain's Vox, Poland's Law and Justice Party and the Sweden Democrats.
The Identity and Democracy (ID) group is the other far-right group in the European Parliament, with 59 MEPs, including 18 from the Rassemblement National (RN) and 3 from Vlaams Belang.
Nicolas Bay was elected on the RN list in 2019, before joining the non-attached list in 2022, following his support for Eric Zemmour.
A month ago, Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon (N-VA) said that his party no longer felt at home in the ECR and was considering changing political groups after the elections on 9 June.
