Party of far-right Romanian politician rejected by new far-right group in European Parliament

The SOS Romania party, formed around far-right politician Diana Șoșoacă, was not accepted into the new European Parliament group ‘Europe of Sovereign Nations,’ despite ideological similarities.

The formation of the new group was announced on Tuesday, July 9, by the leader of the ultra-nationalist and xenophobic Czech SPD party, Tomio Okamura. It includes the far-right German party Alternative for Germany (AfD) and smaller parties from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Spain, and Hungary. It has 28 members, of whom 14 are AfD members.

"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.

Previously, Diana Șoșoacă had said that she is in good relations with the German AfD, which dominates the new group.

Two other groups in the European Parliament, the recently-formed ‘Patriots for Europe’ (84 members), which replaced the ID group, and ‘European Conservatives and Reformists’ (ECR, 78 members), were built in opposition to the center majority made up of the EPP, SD, and Renew groups.

To form a political group in the European Parliament, a minimum of 23 MEPs from at least a quarter of the EU member states is required. The SOS Romania Party has two MEPs, Diana Șoșoacă and Luis Lazarus.

(Photo source: Inquam Photos | George Calin)