.
ER Editor: The Sofia Declaration, a short document, is published below the RT article. We recommend taking a look. It is a very reasonable document indeed and amply describes some of the problems of our times within Europe.
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The name of AfD MEP Maximilian Krah comes up in relation to why the party was removed, under Le Pen’s direction apparently, from the Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the EU Parliament. It’s fair to say that the AfD, as it gets more popular, has been subject to more, and often improbable, attacks on its credibility. No surprises there. Here is what we recently published on Maximilian Krah —
Alleged Chinese spy working for AfD MEP Krah was an informant for German intelligence for years
German right-wing party Alternative for Germany (AfD) plans to set up The Sovereignists faction in the European Parliament, with its key demands being the end to EU bureaucracy and peace negotiations with Russia, German newspaper Der Spiegel reported, citing sources.
The party… pic.twitter.com/GhvKg7gehF
— Emeka Gift Official (@EmekaGift100) June 23, 2024
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German right to form new European alliance – media
The AfD has reportedly rallied a group of anti-globalist right-wing parties who want to end the Ukraine conflict
RT
The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party will meet with like-minded right-wingers in Strasbourg this week to form a new bloc in the European Parliament, German news magazine Der Spiegel has reported (ER: paywall). According to the outlet, the new faction will champion national sovereignty and call for negotiations with Russia.
The AfD will host “the constitutive meeting of a new parliamentary group” in EU Parliament buildings on Thursday, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday, citing an email exchange between the party and the parliament’s administration.
According to the news site’s sources, the new group will be named ‘The Sovereignists’ and could include right-wing parties such as Bulgaria’s Vazrazhdane, Poland’s Konfederacja, Hungary’s Mi Hazank Mozgalom, Slovakia’s Hnutie Republika, Se Acabo La Fiesta from Spain, NIKH from Greece, and SOS Romania.
With more than 700 seats in the European Parliament, parties generally join blocs along ideological lines. Most right-wing parties are members of the Identity and Democracy (ID) or European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) blocs, which are dominated by France’s National Rally and Italy’s Brothers of Italy respectively.
The AfD was expelled from the ID faction before this month’s European elections, primarily over remarks by its lead candidate, Maximilian Krah, who told multiple news outlets that he didn’t believe every member of Adolf Hitler’s SS “was automatically a criminal.” National Rally leader Marine Le Pen was instrumental in the AfD’s expulsion, threatening to withdraw from the bloc unless Krah’s party was booted out.
As such, the AfD has been rendered powerless in the legislature, despite increasing its seats from 11 to 15.
The Sovereignists’ platform will reportedly be based on the ‘Sofia Declaration’, issued by Vazrazhdane in April. This manifesto states that European civilization is being “threatened by the aggression of globalist ideologies,” and labels the EU a “dictatorship of bureaucracy.” The document calls for peace talks to end the Ukraine conflict, and for the reformation of the EU as a looser union of “equal and sovereign states.”
In a statement after the AfD’s expulsion from the ID group, Vazrazhdane leader Kostadin Kostadinov offered to team up with the German rightists and form a “truly conservative and sovereignist” faction.
It is not yet clear who will lead the new group, although Krah and AfD lawmaker Rene Aust agreed in January that Aust would lead the party’s delegation in Strasbourg while Krah would serve as deputy leader. As the AfD will be the largest party in the Sovereignist bloc, Krah and Aust will likely occupy senior roles.
Source
Featured image source: https://www.spiegel.de/politik/deutschland/afd-startet-im-eu-parlament-fraktionsgruendung-von-die-souveraenisten-a-70d63677-4af4-4694-82d4-298b7ed0644a
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The Sofia Declaration
12 April 2024 | Forum for Democracy Intl
SOFIA DECLARATION, 12 April 2024.
Europe is in an existential crisis. The values that founded European civilization are being threatened and called into question by aggressive globalist ideologies. Democracy and the people’s right to self-determination are being replaced by the dictatorship of an unelected bureaucracy accountable to no one. Economic security is threatened by the interests of international corporations and financial institutions. Freedom of speech is giving way to massive censorship. A war is being waged on the European continent that could engulf it entirely – for the third time in the last 100 years.
In its current form, the European Union cannot provide an institutional response to these challenges. The agenda of those who claim to be its leaders is fundamentally different from the agenda of the majority of citizens. The crisis of confidence in this EU has reached alarming levels that threaten the future of European civilization. Guided by our principles, we unite behind the following goals in the next mandate of the European Parliament:
1. Europe must stop being an economic area dominated by the interests of multinational corporations and financial institutions. Our continent must be a political space of relationships and connections between equal and sovereign states.
2. The power of the unaccountable bureaucracy must be stopped. Democratic power rests with the citizens and they, not the Brussels bureaucrats, should decide how they want to live.
3. The war in Europe must be stopped and that can only happen through peace negotiations. European civilization is based on peace. And on this basis, the countries of Europe must become an independent and powerful factor in international politics.
The upcoming European Parliament elections are taking place at a very important and historical point in time. If we do not now categorically state that we cannot continue like this anymore, we face the threat of losing our Europe. We, who stand behind this declaration with our signatures, will not allow it!
Kostadin Kostadinov
(Revival)
Bulgaria
Evangelos Tsiompanidis
(Agricultural Livestock Party of Greece)
Greece
Natalia Parasca
(Revival Party)
Moldova
Ralf Dekker
Forum for Democracy
The Netherlands
Milan Uhrik
(Republic)
Slovakia
Goran Igić
(Oathkeepers)
Serbia
János Árgyelán
(Our Homeland)
Hungary
Gustav Kasselstrand
(Alternative for Sweden)
Sweden
Nicolaas Rimoldi
(MASS-VOLL!)
Switzerland
Source
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Thanks! Good to know.
Forum for Democracy International is a subsidiary of the Dutch political party Forum for Democracy. The Sofia declaration is their initiative.
FvD is, in my view, real and honest opposition.
Ralf Dekker, who signed the declaration on behalf of FvD is sitting MP in Dutch Parliament, and candidate for the EU, but did not receive a seat in the recent elections.