EU: Formation of Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty
01 January 2007
The first session of the European Parliament for 2007 took place on 15 January and was marked by the launch of a new extreme-right grouping,
Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty (ITS). The disparate 20-strong MEP grouping, with members from seven countries, is united by a common anti-immigrant stance, racism and xenophobia; its French chairman and
Front National (FN) member, Bruno Gollnisch for example, is a convicted Holocaust denier. The group was formed after the accession of Romania and Bulgaria to the European Union on 1 January and its largest factions are made up of seven French (FN) members and a five-strong grouping from the Romanian
Partidul Romania Mare (Greater Romania Party, PRM).
The ITS membership is made up from the following European extremist groups:
Austria (1): The Freiheitliche Partei Osterreichs (Freedom Party) is represented in ITS by Andreas Molzer who has praised Adolf Hitler as a "great social revolutionary".
Belgium (3): The
Vlaams Belang (VB, Flemish Interest) has three members in the ITS including Philip Claeys, who is its vice-chairman. Koenraad Dillen and Frank Vanhecke are the VB's other members.
Bulgaria (1): Bulgaria has one member in the ITS, Dimitar Stoyanov, who is a member of the Attack Coalition (this Bulgarian nationalist group incorporates The National Movement for the Salvation of the Fatherland, The Bulgarian National Patriotic Party and The Union of Patriotic Forces and Militias of the Reserve).
France (7): The French
Front National with seven members is the largest single fraction of the ITS and one of its most senior members, Bruno Gollnisch, is the Chairman of the new European group. Other FN members include: Carl Lang, Marine Le Pen, Jean-Marie Le Pen, Fernand Le Rachinel, Jean Claude Martinez and Lydia Schenardi.
Italy (2): Alesandra Mussolini, a member of the
Alternativa Sociale (a coalition of Italian far-right parties) and the great grand-daughter of the Italian dictator and Luca Romagnoli of the
Movimento Sociale Fiamma Tricolore make up the Italian contingent.
Romania (5): The Romanians make up the second largest grouping within the ITS with five members of the
Partidul Romania Mare included within its numbers. The PRM is a racist organisation renowned for its attacks on the Roma and minority groups. Its members are: Eugen Mihaescu (who is a vice-chairman of the new grouping), Petre Popeanga, Daniela Buruiana-Aprodu, Viorica-Pompilia-Georgeta Moisuc, Cristian Stanescu.
UK: The only UK member of the extreme-right is the Independent MEP, Ashley Mote.
The formation of the ITS was welcomed by the British far-right British National Party, which has attempted to emulate Jean Marie Le Pen's
Front National, but is ineligible to join as it has no MEPs.
At the beginning of February the ITS was denied any leading positions on parliamentary assembly committees but it will receive euro 50,000 (£35,000) for each member.
BBC News 15.1.07, European Parliament website,
http://www.europarl.europa.eu/members/expert/groupAndCountry/search.do?group=2345&language=EN