Europe of Sovereign Nations Group

This article is about the parliamentary group. For the political alliance, see Europe of Sovereign Nations (party).

The Europe of Sovereign Nations Group (ESN; French: L'Europe des Nations Souveraines; German: Europa der Souveränen Nationen), also known as the Sovereigntists,^{[citation needed]} is a far-right political group in the European Parliament, formed on 10 July 2024 as the smallest group ahead of the 10th European Parliament. Its members previously belonged to the Identity and Democracy group or were non-attached.^[9]

Europe of Sovereign Nations Group
European Parliament group
English abbr.	ESN
French abbr.	ENS
Ideology	Ultranationalism[1] Ultraconservatism[2] Right-wing populism[3] Euroscepticism[6][7] Sovereigntism[3]
Political position	Far-right[8]
European parties	Europe of Sovereign Nations
From	10 July 2024; 5 months ago (10 July 2024)
Chaired by	René Aust Stanisław Tyszka
MEP(s)	25 / 720

History

Formation

Plans for the AfD to form a new political group called the Sovereignists became known shortly after the 2024 European Parliament elections. The AfD MEPs had been expelled from the Identity and Democracy (ID) Group shortly before the election due to reports of Nazi sympathising from the AfD leadership.^[10] The AfD delegation excluded the lead candidate Maximilian Krah and led a failed attempt to be reinstated in the ID Group.^[11] On 4 July 2024, Czech MEP Ivan David (SPD) announced the formation of a political group with the AfD. On July 8, 2024, the Patriots for Europe (PfE) parliamentary group was founded as the successor to the ID. Notably, the Czech SPD party, which previously belonged to the ID group, chose to not join PfE citing they did not want to be in the same group as those who “voted for the Green Deal and supported migration” in reference to Czech ANO party.^[12]

The German AfD and the Czech SPD are both former members of the ID Group. The French Reconquête split, with four out of its five MEPs joining the European Conservatives and Reformists after their expulsion from the party. Their one remaining MEP joined the Europe of Sovereign Nations Group. On 12 April 2024, the Bulgarian Revival organized the 'Sofia Declaration' with the Slovak Republic, Dutch Forum for Democracy, Hungarian Our Homeland Movement, Alternative for Sweden and the Agricultural Livestock Party of Greece.^[13] Czech Republic in First Place! also declared their interest in forming a "pacifist" and eurosceptic group to improve relations with Russia, along with parties like Republic.^[14] Other parties speculated to join such group include Spanish Se Acabó La Fiesta (SALF) and Greek Victory.

Due to his expulsion from the AfD delegation, Maximilian Krah sits as an independent MEP and his membership was rejected by Czech^[15] and Polish members due to his statements about the SS and accusations of corruption by pro-Russian forces.^{[citation needed]} In June, SALF denied any connections to the AfD.^[16] The inclusion of the Romanian party S.O.S. Romania in the parliamentary group was also rejected by the AfD and Our Homeland,^[17][18] while the participation of Polish KKP MEP Grzegorz Braun^[19] and Slovak Republic MEP Milan Mazurek^[20] were also rejected by the AfD. The Ruch Narodowy MEPs, who had contested the elections together with Braun and the New Hope as Konfederacja, spoke out against joining a parliamentary group in which the German AfD was involved.^[21]

10th European Parliament (2024–present)

At the constituent meeting, René Aust (AfD) and Stanisław Tyszka (NN) were elected co-chairpersons of the parliamentary group, with Sarah Knafo (Reconquête), Milan Uhrík (Republika) and Stanislav Stoyanov (Revival) elected as deputy chairpersons.^[22]

MEPs

10th European Parliament

Main article: List of members of the European Parliament (2024–2029)

Europe of Sovereign Nations has MEPs in 8 member states. Dark blue indicates member states sending multiple MEPs, light blue indicates member states sending a single MEP.

State	National party	European party		MEPs[23]
Bulgaria	Revival Възраждане		ESN	3 / 17
Czech Republic	Freedom and Direct Democracy Svoboda a přímá demokracie (SPD)		ESN	1 / 21
France	Reconquest Reconquête (R!)		ESN	1 / 81
Germany	Alternative for Germany[a] Alternative für Deutschland (AfD)		ESN	14 / 96
Hungary	Our Homeland Movement Mi Hazánk Mozgalom (MHM)		ESN	1 / 21
Lithuania	People and Justice Union (Centrists, Nationalists) Tautos ir teisingumo sąjunga (centristai, tautininkai) (TTS)		ESN	1 / 11
Poland	New Hope[b] Nowa Nadzieja (NN)		ESN	3 / 53
Slovakia	Republic Movement[a] Hnutie Republika		ESN	1 / 15
European Union	Total			25 / 720

Organization

Presidents

Co-President		Took office	Left office	State (Constituency)	Party	Co-President		Took office	Left office	State (Constituency)	Party
René Aust		10 July 2024	present	Germany	Alternative for Germany	Stanisław Tyszka		10 July 2024	present	Poland (Lower Silesian and Opole)	New Hope

Bureau

2024–present

Group bureau during the 10th European Parliament.^[24]

Position	Name	State	National party	European party
Co-President	René Aust	Germany	Alternative for Germany		ESN
Co-President	Stanisław Tyszka	Poland	New Hope		ESN
Vice-President	Sarah Knafo	France	Reconquête		ESN
Vice-President	Milan Uhrík	Slovakia	Republic Movement		ESN
Vice-President	Stanislav Stoyanov	Bulgaria	Revival		ESN

Notes

1. Not every member of the party has joined the group.
2. Part of the Confederation alliance. Its other members did not join.

See also

• Forum for Democracy (FvD), a member of the Europe of Sovereign Nations (party)
• Alternative for Sweden (AFS)

References

1. Liboreiro, Jorge; Genovese, Vincenzo (2024). "AfD and allies form new far-right group in Brussels called Europe of Sovereign Nations". Retrieved 17 July 2024.
2. "AfD and allies form new far-right group: Europe of Sovereign Nations". Euronews. 10 July 2024. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
3. Hess, Amandine (17 October 2024). "Radical, populist, extreme, nationalist: How should we be talking about the far right?". Euronews.
4. "European Union". Europe Elects. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
5. Reed, Betsy (2024). "Germany's AfD and extremist allies set up second EU parliament far-right group". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
6. ^[4][5]
7. "Statutes ESN - Annex 2 Political programme (German)" (PDF). 26 August 2024. Retrieved 14 September 2024.
8. von Pezold, Pauline (2024). "New far-right group led by Germany's AfD founded in European Parliament". Politico. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
9. "AfD and allies form new far-right group: Europe of Sovereign Nations". Euronews. 10 July 2024. Retrieved 20 July 2024.
10. "Germany's far-right AfD party expelled from European Parliament group". euronews. 23 May 2024. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
11. Neubert, Kjeld (20 June 2024). "German far-right gives up on ID to form own parliamentary group". euractiv. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
12. Pezold, Pauline von; Wax, Eddy; Vinocur, Nicholas (23 May 2024). "Far-right ID group expels Alternative for Germany". POLITICO. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
13. "Parties from Nine Countries Sign Joint Declaration at Vazrazhdane-Organized Conference". BTA. 12 April 2024.
14. Volby do Evropského parlamentu 2024. Czech Television (in Czech). 25 May 2024. Event occurs at 6:00. Retrieved 31 May 2024.
15. "Okamura nechce být ve stínu. SPD se v europarlamentu spojí s německou AfD". newstream (in Czech). Czech News Agency. 9 July 2024.
16. Antonio Rodríguez (29 June 2024). "Alvise copia la estrategia de Iglesias: seguirá en España y solo irá a Bruselas para los plenos". The Objective (in Spanish). Retrieved 10 July 2024.
17. Dan Tăpălagă (28 June 2024). "EXCLUSIV Diana Șoșoacă și Luis Lazarus, europarlamentari SOS, respinși de partidul german de extremă dreaptă AFD / Europarlamentar AFD: Am avut o discuție cu cei de la SOS și am decis în unanimitate să nu îi primim în viitorul grup din Parlamentul European". G4 Media (in Romanian). Retrieved 10 July 2024.
18. "Romanian Diana Șoșoacă's party rejected by new far-right group in European Parliament". Romania Insider. 11 July 2024. "At our request, the group rejected the application of the SOS Romania party to join," said Laszlo Toroczkai, a member of the Hungarian Our Homeland party, in a post on X. He motivated the request by saying that SOS Romania is anti-Hungarian.
19. "Split in Polish far-right Confederation as half its MEPs join Germany's AfD in new EU grouping". Notes from Poland. 10 July 2024. German daily Die Welt reported that the AfD did not invite Braun to join the Sovereignists because they did not want to be associated with him due to his statements on the Holocaust
20. "Mazurek vysvetľuje odmietnutie od frakcie extrémistov: Na Googli sú moje fotky bez vlasov a obvinenia, že popieram holokaust". Dennik. 26 July 2024. Dôvodom Mazurekovho neprijatia má byť ostražitosť poslancov z AfD, ktorí sa chcú vyhnúť škandálom a spájaniu sa s extrémistickými politikmi. [The reason for Mazurek's non-acceptance is said to be the vigilance of AfD deputies who want to avoid scandals and association with extremist politicians.]
21. "Confederation MEP rules out alliance with Germany's AfD, eyes other European groups". Remix News. 3 July 2024.
22. Jorge Liboreiro; Vincenzo Genovese (10 July 2024). "AfD and allies form new far-right group in Brussels called Europe of Sovereign Nations". Euronews. Retrieved 10 July 2024.
23. "MEPs by Member State and political group". Retrieved 17 July 2024.
24. "There is another group in the EU Parliament, even further to the right than the Patriots: it is "Europe of Sovereign Nations"". eunews. 10 July 2024.