Goodbye and good riddance to far-right group in Euro Parliament

The anti-immigrant, far-right 'Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty' political group in the European Parliament collapsed today following internal fighting over comments made by an Italian member about Romanians and criminality. The self-removal of five members from the Greater Romanian Party means that the far-right grouping no longer has the 20 Euro-MPs from at least 6 member states needed for a formal group.

Jean says:

"Hooray! The very existence of this group in the European Parliament, while it may have represented some citizen's views, was a blot on democracy.

"It came into being with the agreement of just one UK MEP, Ashley Mote*, who was also the final member necessary to meet the Parliament's rules. It claimed to stand for family and European Christian values, but its break-up, as a result of prejudice against national and minority groups, shows it stood for nothing of the kind. I hope that there will be no support for such groups, which preach bigotry and hatred, in the next European elections in 2009."

*Ashley Mote is now serving a prison sentence for benefit fraud.