Far-right, anti-EU & anti-immigrant parties form group in EU parliament, will they loose their funding?

Far-right, anti-EU and anti-immigrant parties form group in EU parliament, will they loose their funding? (Politico.eu).

Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Front party said Monday it had enough support to form a group in the European Parliament, a long-awaited move that will boost the group’s influence in the assembly.

The anti-European Union, anti-immigration party said in a statement it was to formally announce the creation of its group, named “Europe of Nations and Freedoms,” in a press conference Tuesday hosted by party chief Le Pen in Brussels.

By forming a group, the National Front (FN) will get more speaking time during the plenary sessions and more staff. The party will also be better positioned to get its members on parliamentary committees, where groups exert control over access.

The FN has 23 deputies in Parliament, just short of the 25 needed to form a group, but the real challenge has been the recruitment of deputies from a minimum of seven nations needed to form a group. The statement did not specify the names or nationalities of the deputies the party had recruited to meet that requirement. Le Pen’s parliamentary adviser declined to name the additional MEPs.

But parliamentary sources said the group will include 36 MEPs from several parties, including one from the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and one from Hungarian far-right party Jobbik, as well as deputies from the Netherlands’ PVV, Austria’s FPÖ, Italy’s Lega Nord and Belgium’s Vlaams Belang.

The co-chairs, according to sources, will be Le Pen and Marcel De Graaff of the Netherlands. The vice chairs will be Harald Vilimsky of Austria, Matteo Salvini of Italy, Michal Marusik of Poland and Janice Atkinson of Britain, who was previously sidelined by UKIP following an alleged expenses scandal. The treasurer will be Gerolf Annemans of Belgium. The secretary general will be Ludovic de Danne, a Le Pen parliamentary adviser.

About to loose their subsidy?

Two years ago the European Commission proposed a law that would authorize an “independent authority” within the European Parliament [EP] to decide whether EP parties would receive an official legal status as EP parties.

This legal status is needed for a party to obtain EP party subsidy, which is designed to cover 85% of party expenditures.

Despite a British and Dutch lobby against the law, it was passed by the EP on September 29, 2014.

Among the demands parties have to meet are that of “internal party democracy” and that they must “respect the values on which the European Union is based.” Among these values are: “pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men.” Also, the parties must be active in at least seven out of 28 EU member state countries.

The law states that: “decisions regarding a party’s respect for values on which the EU is based, may only be taken following a special procedure and in cooperation with a committee of independent prominent individuals.” Hmmmm.......Seems they are about to loose their EU funding, so WHO Will fund them now? Follow the money.Read the full story here.

Dutch Elections - Geert Wilders party lost Eleven seats, 10 percent less voters for PVV

Dutch Elections - Geert Wilders party lost Eleven seats, 10 percent less voters for PVV.(HLN)Google Translate.The populist Geert Wilders' PVV loses 11 seats unexpectedly large and amounts to 13 seats. Wilders acknowledged that his party has suffered a major defeat. "We have lost heavily as PVV. Today we are taking a step backwards, tomorrow we lick our wounds," Wilders said to his followers in a cafe in The Hague.
The party leader compared the results with a "new beginning". "Our struggle in the Netherlands is more necessary than ever. The best years of the Freedom Party are still ahead of us. In Brussels they celebrate party. We have hard weeks accommodate go," said Wilders, who 13 are still the "new lucky number "the party said. The Socialist SP Emile Roemer this summer in the polls stood at 38, but during the campaign enormously lost to the Labour Party of Samson, finally obtains 15 seats, which is the same score as two years ago. The christendemcoratische CDA was halved in the last election and now loses again sharply after government participation: 8 seats. The Christian Democrats hold a 13 on. In 2006, the then CDA leader Jan Peter Balkenende has 41 seats. The left liberal D66 stood long in significant gains in the polls, but it does not exceed a gain of 2 seats and comes to about 12. Green suffers the expected dramatic loss and comes in 4 seats. The Christian Union loses a bit and comes on 4. Newcomer 50plus comes with 3 seats in the Chamber. The ultra-conservative National Reformed SGP rises a seat and comes on 3. The Party for the Animals, the 2 seats they currently have.Hmmmm......It aint good to be a friend of Israel in Europe these days. Read the full story here.

Geert Wilders Wilders discovers Europe.

Geert Wilders Wilders discovers Europe.(Trouw).By Lex Oomkes.Now that the Dutch Prime government has fallen, with elections likely for 12 September, political commentator Les Oomkes argues that Wilders’ railing against Europe might prove fortuitous: leading to Europe as the central theme of the election campaign and a shift in the political balance of power.
In the meantime, however, the odd ray of hope has also been spotted. For instance, in a statement issued on Saturday with a view to explaining his rather curious behaviour during the recent Catshuis negotiations, Mr Geert Wilders claimed that the EU is the root of all evil. He appears to be suggesting that Brussels had put pressure on the minority government to withdraw to the Catshuis in order to negotiate further extensive cost-cutting measures. While Mr Wilders’ statement was the most obvious nonsense, this by no means suggests that it is insignificant. His PVV (Party for Freedom) has declared the EU the ‘ogre’, against which it eagerly looks forward to campaigning during the next few months. Based on the philosophy of PVV, this would appear an entirely logical strategy to pursue. 
The party’s highly peculiar blend of principles – extremely right-wing in its approach to social issues, yet leftist in its defence of the crumbling vestiges of the Dutch welfare state – would appear to have singled out the main threat: Brussels. It is Brussels, for instance, which insists that we abide by agreements on the freedom of movement of employees. And PVV views these employees as a threat to the purely Dutch nature of society in the Netherlands, and therefore also a threat to the welfare state. Mr Wilders appears to have come to the conclusion that his electorate might be more readily mobilised to combat the EU, rather than the envisaged Islamisation of the Netherlands. For some (strange) reason, the future of the Netherlands in Europe has not been the central theme of an election n campaign since the referendum. Mr Wilders now appears determined to force the issue, however, and hopefully he will succeed.Hmmm....."Luctor et Emergo".Read the full story here.