After a week of speculation, the terminal fate of the extreme right Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty group in the European Parliament was confirmed today. The withdrawal of five Romanian members from the group means it no longer has sufficient representation to sustain its group status and must be dissolved.
London Green MEP Jean Lambert commented:
"The extreme right’s European identity crisis has met a predictable end, dealing a welcome blow to the prejudice and bigotry these parties promote. This collection of unsavoury European politicians were united only by hatred – be it of other races, nationalities, sexualities or the EU – and it was only a matter of time before they succumbed to a hatred of each other as well.
"The dissolution of the ITS group will deprive these politicians of EU funding, which they used to further of their policies. It is great news for the European Parliament and the fundamental and democratic values of tolerance on which the EU is built. We must now look to try and convince those voters who supported these candidates to change their minds at the next European election."