European Parliament's competing hard-right groups will unite to form bloc, Anders Vistisen says

7 months ago

Vistisen exclusively tells Euronews there is “no more political divide” between Meloni and Le Pen’s political factions than there is within other mainstream political groups.

Transcript

00:00The European Parliament's two hard-right groups could join to form a bloc.

00:07That's the prediction of Anders Vistersen, who's been fronting the far-right group of

00:12parties' campaign ahead of the European elections.

00:16Speaking with Euronews, Vistersen said that there is no real political divide between

00:21his Identity and Democracy party, which includes Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement Nationale,

00:27and the less hard-line European Conservatives and Reformists, which includes Giorgia Meloni's

00:32Fratelli d'Italia.

00:35There is no more political divide between the ID and the ECR than what you can see within

00:39the EPP, the SND or the Renew parties, for instance.

00:43So could you see those two right-wing groups reorganising themselves, particularly after

00:47the elections? Could you see a possible unification of those two groups?

00:51Yeah, I think you'll see that someday. You already have it in the Council of Europe,

00:55that the two groups have merged together in a dual party. I think maybe not just after

01:01this election, but I think the French presidential elections that are coming up in a couple of

01:06years could be a point in time that is very interesting to look forward to.

01:11Vistersen spoke hours before a crisis erupted within his party. Marine Le Pen's team said

01:17their party would no longer sit with Germany's AfD over damning comments made by their lead

01:23election candidate Maximilian Krah, claiming Nazi SS members were not all criminals.

01:29Krah has since been banned from campaigning.

01:32Another AfD candidate is facing allegations he was paid by Russia to spread pro-Kremlin

01:37propaganda. Vistersen himself was interviewed earlier this year by Voice of Europe, the

01:43news company now sanctioned by the EU, suspected of being at the heart of the Russian influence

01:48operation.

01:50You gave a one-on-one interview to Voice of Europe earlier this year. Were you paid for

01:56that interview?

01:57No, of course not. That interview was set up at the same premise as this interview.

02:01I was asked to give an interview and I applied. That's my job as a politician. But it is

02:08worrisome that this outside influence is also generally used to spread misinformation about

02:15the right. I have an impeccable record when it comes to being firm on Russia, firm on

02:21China.

02:22But despite these multiple scandals, Vistersen's European party is surging in the polls and

02:27could compete to become the parliament's third biggest force. The other right-wing group,

02:32the ECR, has consistently rejected a potential merger. You can watch the full interview on

02:38Euronews' Global Conversation.

European Parliament's competing hard-right groups will unite to form bloc, Anders Vistisen says

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