Thanks, Fianna Fáil !

[Tender Branson]

FF to block far-right party joining EU group

JAMIE SMYTH

FIANNA FÁIL MEP Brian Crowley has vowed to block any application made by the Austrian Freedom Party to join the political group he leads in the European Parliament.

Mr Crowley, who is co-president of the Union for the Europe of Nations (UEN), said yesterday the far-right party would not fit the political philosophy of Fianna Fáil’s group. “We’ve received no application yet but in my opinion there is no advantage in bringing them into the group and all decisions on new admissions are taken unanimously,” said Mr Crowley, who wants Fianna Fáil to remain in the UEN following the European elections rather than join the rival Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe group.

It emerged at the weekend that Austria’s Freedom Party (FPO) wants to join the UEN and has gained the support of Danish MEP Mogens Camre, who is one of 44 UEN MEPs. “The [UEN] faction is currently the fourth strongest in the European parliament but with the help of the FPO, it could become the third strongest after EU elections in June,” said FPO leader Heinz-Christian Strache.

The Freedom Party is probably best known for the period it spent in government as a junior coalition partner under the leadership of the populist Jörg Haider. Mr Haider, who died last year in a car accident, famously praised the “orderly employment policy” of the Third Reich and rose to prominence by tapping into anti-immigrant feeling in Austria.

Mr Haider left the Freedom Party in 2005 to set up a new far- right party but under the leadership of Mr Strache it has maintained its populist views. The party is also an opponent of further EU integration with Mr Strache describing it as a “major problem”.

The UEN is one of nine political groups in the European Parliament but unlike most of the others it contains a diverse range of views. Fianna Fáil says it is strongly pro-European while the Danish People’s Party and Polish Law Justice are Eurosceptics. There are also several MEPs who won election to the parliament by standing for the extreme right wing Polish League of Families party which sits within the UEN group.

Ahead of the European elections in June there has been speculation in Brussels about the group surviving. Some analysts have predicted it could disband while others have suggested it could become a vehicle for the British Tory party, which has pledged to leave the pro-EU European Peoples’ Party.

A recent analysis on the EurActiv website quotes Tory MEP Charles Tannock saying the UEN “by and large, identifies with many of the same values as Conservatives”. A decision by the Tories to apply to the UEN could also prove problematic for Fianna Fáil, which retains a host of privileges because of Mr Crowley’s position as president of a group.

Fianna Fáil came close to joining the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe after the last European elections in 2004 but Mr Crowley persuaded former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to keep the party within the UEN.

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0203/1232923383579.html

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Now THOSE are words I don't usually hear (especially now). Not that I'm particular excited by the EU parliament or anything.

[Hash]

FF should just leave UEN. I find it quite disturbing that they're in the same group as the Polish LPR, Samoobrona, PiS and the Danish DFP.

France: MPF, FN

The NPA will also likely win some seats, as it currently stands.

Luxembourg: ARP

Why would the ADR win seats this time around?

You must be logged in to read this quote.

PiS will win seats. PiS is a member of the UEN.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

What do you mean by UP? UKIP? Unionists?

UKIP will suffer some important loses, but the UKIP could hold a few seats at best.

[k-onmmunist]

Anything that destabilises the EU is good.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I meant UKIP. What on earth are the English Democrats.

They favor at minimum a federal Britain, with separate Parliaments for Scotland, Wales, and England with each having equal level of power with at least as much power the Scottish Parliament has now, but prefer English independence.

They want England to leave the EU, but stay in the EFTA.

[k-onmmunist]

I meant UKIP. What on earth are the English Democrats.

They favor at minimum a federal Britain, with separate Parliaments for Scotland, Wales, and England with each having equal level of power with at least as much power the Scottish Parliament has now, but prefer English independence.

They want England to leave the EU, but stay in the EFTA.

Umm, that should be join EFTA I think...

Britain is no longer a member of EFTA.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

I meant UKIP. What on earth are the English Democrats.

They favor at minimum a federal Britain, with separate Parliaments for Scotland, Wales, and England with each having equal level of power with at least as much power the Scottish Parliament has now, but prefer English independence.

They want England to leave the EU, but stay in the EFTA.

Umm, that should be join EFTA I think...

Britain is no longer a member of EFTA.

Make that stay in the EEA  (which is EU + EFTA).

[freek]

Netherlands: PVV, CU

CU/SGP will probably join the EPP group, unless there are enough MEPs from different countries to form a separate, even more Christian, group.

[Verily]

Netherlands: PVV, CU

CU/SGP will probably join the EPP group, unless there are enough MEPs from different countries to form a separate, even more Christian, group.

I'm sure the DUP would be willing to form a group with the CU and SGP. But the problem for a Europe-wide ultra-Christian group is the Protestant/Catholic/Orthodox divide: LAOS and the SGP are unlikely to get along, for example, but they're both ultraconservative Christian parties.

[Hash]

Netherlands: PVV, CU

CU/SGP will probably join the EPP group, unless there are enough MEPs from different countries to form a separate, even more Christian, group.

I'm sure the DUP would be willing to form a group with the CU and SGP. But the problem for a Europe-wide ultra-Christian group is the Protestant/Catholic/Orthodox divide: LAOS and the SGP are unlikely to get along, for example, but they're both ultraconservative Christian parties.

There is already the ECPM which includes Catholic and Protestant political parties.

[freek]

I'm sure the DUP would be willing to form a group with the CU and SGP. But the problem for a Europe-wide ultra-Christian group is the Protestant/Catholic/Orthodox divide: LAOS and the SGP are unlikely to get along, for example, but they're both ultraconservative Christian parties.

Funnily enough, CU/SGP, LAOS and the Catholic LPR from Poland already collaborate in the IND/DEM-group. :-).