As if Germany’s establishment efforts to keep the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) out of power were not enough, Brussels is now moving against the party’s European alliance as well.
The Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) party—home to the AfD, France’s Reconquest movement led by Éric Zemmour, Bulgaria’s Revival, and several other nationalist parties—is facing a potentially crippling investigation by the Authority for European Political Parties and Foundations (APPF), which claims the alliance may not comply with “EU values.”
If the process advances, the ESN could ultimately lose its official status as a European political party, stripping it of European Union funding and weakening its ability to coordinate across member states ahead of future European elections.
The watchdog claims it has found evidence that “casts doubt” on the alliance’s compliance with the bloc’s core principles, citing statements and activities linked to some of its member parties.
AfD MEP Petr Bystron said it was “crazy” that “the current EU majorities want to dictate to everyone what they’re allowed to think and say.”
They’re actually pushing to punish political parties who oppose illegal migration and LGBTQ ideology—because those are now supposedly sacred ‘European values.’
The ESN party is legally separate from the ESN group in the European Parliament, meaning the bloc’s MEPs would not lose their seats. However, deregistration could still strip the alliance of EU funding and weaken its ability to coordinate campaigning and policy across Europe ahead of future elections.
Dr. Igor Merheim-Eyre, who is a research fellow at the Global Europe Centre at the University of Kent, highlighted the double standards of Brussels, asking: “Why not also consider banning the ‘European Left?’”
Communism is fundamentally against freedom and democracy and, like their far-right chums, ‘The Left’ have sold out to our enemies in Moscow, Beijing and Tehran.
The watchdog told Politico that it had “provided facts … to the European Parliament, the Council and the Commission, with a view to enabling these Institutions to decide whether to lodge with the Authority a request for verification of compliance with Union values.”