Tory MEPs distance themselves from German rightwing party
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Version 0 of 1. The anti-immigrant Alternative für Deutschland party faces expulsion from a conservative group in the European parliament, ending an alliance with British Tory MEPs that threatened to embarrass David Cameron. Alternative für Deutschland has been allied with British Conservatives in the centre-right European Conservatives and Reformists group since 2014. But MEPs in the anti-federalist group were alarmed after AfD MEP Beatrix von Storch said recently that women attempting to enter Germany illegally should be stopped on the border with guns. She was speaking out in support of the AfD party leader Frauke Petry who told a German newspaper last month that police must “if necessary” use firearms to stop people crossing the border. The remarks were condemned by senior German politicians and could have been embarrassing for Cameron, who took the decision to leave the mainstream centre-right group in the European parliament before he became prime minister. At a closed-door meeting in Strasbourg, ECR leaders “invited the AfD to leave the ECR group before the 31 March, otherwise a motion will be tabled to expel them at its next meeting on 12 April”, a spokesman said. The decision was taken after a Dutch MEP, Peter van Dalen, tabled a motion calling for their expulsion. The 20 British Conservatives in the group are expected to support the motion, if it comes to a vote. Ahead of the decision, von Storch had insisted that she had the majority of MEPs in the group behind her. But one parliament source said even if the AfD pair refuse to leave, a vote on their expulsion is expected to clear the required absolute majority of 38 MEPs. “The writing is on the wall,” said the source. “If they don’t withdraw, they will be expelled in April.” But von Stoch won’t go quietly. In a statement on her Facebook page the MEP described the meeting as “a farce, an utterly undignified spectacle”, whose sole aim was “to damage the AfD”. “In the process the other British and German delegates have acted like Cameron and Merkel’s stooges”. Von Storch criticised German chancellor Angela Merkel for trying to “torpedo” the AfD ahead Sunday’s regional elections in three German states. “Cameron won’t achieve substantial reforms of the European Treaties, and he knows it,” she wrote. “So why should he cooperate with the AfD, the only party in Germany which aims for substantial reforms of the European Treaties? Rather, Cameron needs German tax payers’ money to make British voters compliant with short-term election gifts.” Describing Cameron and Merkel as an “amok duo”, von Storch wrote: “Let’s hope that these two political gamblers are performing their last political farce.” The AfD was created in opposition to eurozone bailouts, but has drifted to the anti-immigration right. Its membership of the ECR was driven by founder Bernd Lucke, who has since left the party. Opposition politicians, who have accused the Conservatives of dragging their heels on the scandal, welcomed the move. “I hope this marks the beginning of the end of Tory isolationism in Europe,” said Liberal Democrat MEP Catherine Bearder. She called on the Conservatives to also cut ties with other parties “who espouse intolerant and xenophobic views”, referring to the Danish People’s party and the Finns party. Since Cameron broke away from the main centre-right group in the European parliament in 2009, the ECR has courted controversy over a serious of “dubious partners”, such as the Danish People’s Party, the Finns and Latvia’s For Fatherland and Freedom party. The group is now the third-largest in the European parliament, with 75 MEPs from 17 countries. The expulsion of the two AfD MEPs is not expected to affect the group’s status as one of the larger parties, or public funds. |