Identity and Democracy Group

This article describes the group in the European Parliament. For the related European political party of a similar name, see Identity and Democracy Party

Identity and Democracy Group
Official abbreviation	ID
Members	76/705
Group leader	Marco Zanni
founding	2019
predecessor	Europe of Nations and Freedom
Alignment	EU skepticism , national conservatism Right-wing populism Nationalism Right-wing extremism
European parties	Id party
Website	identityanddemocracy.eu

Identity and Democracy (ID) is a group of right-wing populist , nationalist and right-wing extremist parties in the ninth electoral term of the European Parliament (2019-2024). It was founded after the 2019 European elections as the successor to the Europe of Nations and Freedom Group (ENF), which had existed since 2015 . With currently 76 members, it is the fourth largest group in Parliament (as of February 1, 2020).

The chairman of the group, whose members come from nine parties, is Marco Zanni from the Italian Lega . Deputies are Jörg Meuthen ( AfD , Germany) and Nicolas Bay ( Rassemblement National , France).

The group's largest parties are the Lega (28 MPs) and the Rassemblement National (22 MPs). From the German-speaking countries, the AfD is represented by eleven members and the FPÖ by three members.

history

Marco Zanni ( Lega ), President of the Identity and Democracy Group

History of the extreme right groups in the European Parliament

Period	fraction	Main parties
1984-1989	European Right Group	FN , MSI
1989-1994	Technical Group of the European Right	FN, REP
2007	Identity, tradition, sovereignty	FN, PRM
2015-2019	Europe of Nations and Freedom	FN / RN
from 2019	Identity and democracy	Lega , RN, AfD

At the invitation of the then Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini ( Lega ) met on April 8, 2019 Milan Meuthen Jörg representing the German AFD, Olli Kotro the party as a representative Perussuomalaiset (The Finns, PS) and Anders Vistisen from the Danish People's Party (DF ). There the founding of a new parliamentary group was announced under the name of the European Alliance of People and Nations , later the European Alliance of Peoples and Nations (European Alliance of Peoples and Nations). In the following days, the other parties of the previous ENF group announced their participation in the new group. Before the 2019 European elections , the Slovak party Sme rodina and the Estonian EKRE announced that they would join the group. Since the group feared confusion with the European Anti Poverty Network EAPN (European Poverty Network), a name change was announced at an early stage.

The declared aim of those involved was to found a large parliamentary group of all right-wing and nationalist forces in the European Parliament. The aim was to have over 150 members in the group. In particular, the Polish PiS ( ECR group ) and the Hungarian Fidesz ( EPP group ) were named by Salvini, Le Pen and Meuthen as potential members of the group. However, both remained in their parliamentary groups after the election. Some of the parties announced missed their entry into parliament: Sme Rodina and the Slovenska Nacionalna Stranka as well as the Dutch Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV) (but can appoint a MEP once the United Kingdom has left the EU). Other parties refused to join the ID, such as Nigel Farage's Brexit Party , whose MPs remained non-attached, and the Spanish Vox , which joined the ECR group. MEPs from the Sweden Democrats and the Dutch Forum voor Democratie also joined this group.

The parliamentary group was founded on June 12, 2019. In the end it consisted only of the members of the European party “Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom” and the three parties announced in April: AfD, DF and PS. Marco Zanni was elected chairman. One day later the group was presented to the public under the new name “Identity and Democracy”. At the beginning of July the “Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom” also renamed itself to Identity and Democracy (ID Party).

Members of the ID if constituted according to the previous parliamentary group

Old faction	European party	MPs new	National parties
Europe of Nations and Freedom	MENL	56	Vlaams Belang Rassemblement National Lega Freedom Party of Austria
European Conservatives and Reformers	-	03	Danish People's Party Perussuomalaiset
Europe of freedom and direct democracy	-	11	Alternative for Germany
new in parliament	MENL	03	Estonian People's Conservative Party Svoboda a přímá demokracie

Program

The ID wants to significantly reduce the influence of "Brussels" in the EU, the member states should be given more powers again. You want to "reform the head and its members, but not destroy it," said Meuthen. In addition, the continent should be developed into a "fortress", there must be "powerful protection of the external borders". There is also agreement that “ Islamization ” threatens and must be fought.

At the founding meeting, Salvini said that even if the parties had different attitudes, he had a “nationalist international” in mind. AfD MP Jörg Meuthen said after the official founding of the parliamentary group in June 2019: “We came here to be a thorn in the flesh of the Eurocrats. […] We envision a Europe of fatherlands in which national, regional and cultural idiosyncrasies are respected and defended ”.

Members

The following table shows the parliamentary group's members by national party:

country	Political party			MPs
	National	European party	number	Members
Belgium	Vlaams Belang (VB, Flemish Interests)	ID	3/21	Gerolf Annemans , Filip De Man , Tom Vandendriessche
Denmark	Dansk Folkeparti (DF, Danish People's Party)	-	1/14	Peter Kofod
Germany	Alternative for Germany (AfD)	-	11/96	Christine Anderson , Gunnar Beck , Lars Patrick Berg , Markus Buchheit , Nicolaus Fest , Maximilian Krah , Joachim Kuhs , Sylvia Limmer , Jörg Meuthen , Guido Reil , Bernhard Zimniok
Estonia	Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond (EKRE, Estonian Conservative People's Party)	ID	1/7	Jaak Madison
Finland	Perussuomalaiset (PS, True Finns)	-	2/14	Teuvo Hakkarainen , Laura Huhtasaari
France	Rassemblement National (RN, National Collection)	ID	21/79	Mathilde Androuët , Jordan Bardella , Nicolas Bay , Aurélia Beigneux , Dominique Bilde , Annika Bruna , Gilbert Collard , Catherine Griset , Jean-François Jalkh , France Jamet , Virginie Joron , Hervé Juvin , Hélène Laporte , Gilles Lebreton , Julie Lechanteux , Joëlle Melin , Philippe Olivier , Maxette Pirbakas , Jérôme Rivière , André Rougé , Jean-Lin Lacapelle (since February 1, 2020)
	Independent	-	2/79	Jean-Paul Garraud , Thierry Mariani
Italy	Lega	ID	29/76	Matteo Adinolfi , Simona Renata Baldassarre , Alessandra Basso , Mara Bizotto , Cinzia Bonfrisco , Paolo Borchia , Gianna Calderoli , Marco Campomenosi , Andrea Caroppo , Massimo Casanova , Susanna Ceccardi , Angelo Ciocca , Rosanna Conte , Gianantonio Da Re , Francesca Donato , Marco Dreosto , Valentino Grant , Danilo Oscar Lancini , Elena Lizzi , Alessandro Panza , Luisa Regimenti , Antonio Maria Rinaldi , Silvia Sardone , Annalisa Tardino , Isabella Tovaglieri , Lucia Vuolo , Stefania Zambelli , Marco Zanni , Vincenzo Sofo (since February 1, 2020)
Netherlands	Partij voor de Vrijheid (PVV, Party for Freedom)	-	1/29	Marcel de Graaff (since February 1, 2020)
Austria	Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ)	ID	3/19	Roman Haider , Georg Mayer , Harald Vilimsky
Czech Republic	Svoboda a přímá demokracie (SPD, freedom and direct democracy)	ID	2/21	Hynek Blaško , Ivan David
total			76/705

_ - Members of the ID party

Individual evidence

1. ^ Christoph G. Schmutz: Marine Le Pen: "We are not children" . June 13, 2019, ISSN  0376-6829 ( nzz.ch [accessed June 18, 2019]).
2. ↑ Michael Stabenow, Brussels: Alliance in the EU Parliament: Announcement of the right-wing faction . ISSN  0174-4909 ( faz.net [accessed June 18, 2019]).
3. ↑ europarl.europa.eu
4. ↑ Right-wing populists form a new parliamentary group in the EU Parliament. In: tagesschau.de. June 13, 2019, accessed June 17, 2019 . 
5. ^ AfD and Lega form new "patriotic" faction. In: t-online.de. April 8, 2019, accessed June 17, 2019 . 
6. ↑ Salvini wants to win European elections with right-wing party alliance. In: Welt.de. April 8, 2019, accessed June 17, 2019 . 
7. ↑ Matthias Rüb: Europe's common sense. In: FAZ.net. April 8, 2019, accessed June 17, 2019 . 
8. ^ FPÖ joins right-wing populist alliance. In: n-tv.de. April 9, 2019, accessed June 17, 2019 . 
9. ↑ Justus Bender: Because of the “risk of confusion”, European right-wing populists will change names again. In: FAZ.net. April 9, 2019, accessed June 17, 2019 . 
10. ↑ ^{a b} Far-right alliance: is this what Salvini wanted? Retrieved June 18, 2019 . 
11. ^ Le Pen courts Hungarian, Polish far right in bid for European Parliament alliance. May 5, 2019, accessed June 18, 2019 . 
12. ↑ Shaun Walker: Matteo Salvini launches campaign to forge far-right alliance . In: The Guardian . April 8, 2019, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed June 18, 2019]).
13. ↑ Ben Bolz and Katharina Schiele: Rights in the EU Parliament only in fifth place. NDR, June 14, 2019, accessed June 17, 2019 . 
14. ↑ Michael Stabenow: Announcement of the right-wing faction. In: FAZ.net. June 13, 2019, accessed June 17, 2019 . 
15. ↑ Europe's far-right touts 'new European harmony' in EU vote. In: euractiv.com. April 26, 2019, accessed June 17, 2019 .