The EU Parliament gets a third far-right group since the German AFD has finally managed to find enough like-minded individuals among the newly elected.
Late on Wednesday, the group ESN – Europe of Sovereign Nations – was formed with AFD's 14 members as the core. However, the controversial top candidate Maximilian Krah will for the time being remain outside.
Among the others in the group are, for example, half of the Polish extreme nationalist group Confederation (Konfederacja), the pro-Russian Bulgarians in Revival (Vazrazjdane), and the only remaining member from Éric Zemmour's French far-right Reconquest (Reconquête).
ESN gets 25 members from eight countries – just above the minimum level of 23 members from seven countries. The group leaders will be AFD's René Aust and Confederation's Stanislaw Tyszka.