Sad times in Belgium as her largest party - the N-VA Flemish Nationalists - is being barred from the Greens EFA group. They've ruled out the far left, the eurosceptics and the far-right - I suppose either EPP or ALDE will let them in?
Why've they been thrown out?
Because they've drifted rightwards and so look increasingly odd. Apparently the two Belgian Green parties suggested they leave.
N-VA used to be a sub-group of CD&V (Flemish Christian Democrats, light nationalists) and have always had a conservative-liberal backbone to their nationalism (There used to be a left-wing nationalist party called Spirit but they're in Groen now). When they split from CD&V, the latter got very cross and managed to get N-VA kicked out of the EPP.
Thing is N-VA had only one MEP at the time anyway and she was actually to the left of the party and on good terms with the Belgian Greens and more importantly wasn't a hardcore Flemish nationalist (she's from Limburg). I talked to an ecolo MEP and he said it was a potential PR disaster (a Walloon party sitting in the same group as a Flemish nationalist party) but they didn't want her in the non-inscrits because she was europhile, limburgish and did a lot of good work.
Anyway she is no longer MEP as she was elected as mayor of Bilzen and now N-VA are set to get more seats with a way more right-wing list than the last time out (since De Wever is riding on the tide of right-wing populism). They look set to join the ECR although that could get embarrassing for Cameron with the Scotland debate. Personally, I think they should just rejoin the EPP because they are not eurosceptic (yet).
I think Ecolo and the way that other Walloon parties have kept questioning them as to why they sit with Flemish nationalists both in EP and in federal government opposition is the realpolitik nature of what just happened. This is what happens in campaigning time I guess...
