MEP from Italy’s League party says discussions with Nigel Farage have been going well

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Nigel Farage’s Brexit party has been in talks to join the far-right group in the European parliament and is keeping its options open about its future allies, a spokesman for the party has said.

The talks between the Brexit party and Italy’s far-right League were first revealed by Marco Zanni, a League MEP, who said talks were going well and could be wrapped up next week.

He told La Repubblica newspaper: “Yes, the talks [with Farage] went very well, we hope to wrap things up next week. We’re at a good point. Obviously he has to say that he has more [than one] option, but it’s a good agreement and would be beneficial for us all to be together.”

But the Brexit party played down Zanni’s remarks, saying Farage wanted to maintain a separate Eurosceptic grouping, the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD).

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A spokesman for Farage confirmed a meeting had taken place. “Yes, Nigel met former EFDD group member Marco Zanni MEP yesterday in public in Place du Luxembourg [next to the European parliament in Brussels] and had a coffee. Farage is working to maintain EFDD. He has lots of meetings today and next week.”

Asked whether Farage would rule out joining the Salvini group, the spokesman said: “We will keep our options open. Our first priority is to maintain the group, but we are speaking to all parties and we are keeping our options open.”

He said Farage was also in talks with Italy’s Five Star Movement (M5S), the Brexit party’s current ally in the European parliament. “We haven’t ruled anybody out.”

Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister, hopes to bring Farage and his Brexit party MEPs into a far-right grouping that already includes Le Pen’s National Rally, Austria’s Freedom party and Belgium’s Vlaams Belang. The Finns party and the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) are also expected to join.

While the group does little EU work, it has a common agenda of hostility to immigrants and foreigners. With Salvini at the interior ministry, Italy has turned away boats carrying people rescued at sea, and announced measures to discriminate against late-night grocery stores, which are often run by immigrants.

The former AfD leader Frauke Petry said German border police should be allowed to shoot at refugees crossing the border illegally. National Rally and the Freedom party, which have roots in antisemitic movements, have both been embroiled in corruption scandals, while presenting themselves as anti-elite parties.

Farage has previously ruled out working with Le Pen because he did not want his former party, Ukip, associated with her party, the former Front National.

The Brexit party is one of the largest national delegations in the European parliament, with 29 MEPs, as many as Angela Merkel’s centre-right CDU-CSU alliance.

However, being the largest national party does not count for much in Brussels and Strasbourg without membership of a pan-European group, the conduit to greater funding and longer speaking slots. Ukip’s success stemmed partly from access to EU funds and the platform of the European parliament. Both were magnified by being part of a bigger Eurosceptic group.

Under EU rules, a group must have at least 25 MEPs from seven member states, a threshold that has traditionally made it harder for non-mainstream parties to form alliances.

Farage currently leads the EFDD, which also includes Italy’s populist M5S and smaller Eurosceptic parties. But M5S is seeking new allies, risking the breakup of the Farage-led coalition.

Farage’s leadership of the group has given him prime-time speaking slots in European parliamentary debates with EU leaders.

If Farage joined the Salvini-Le Pen “League of Leagues” it would be a coup for Italy’s populist leader, making the far-right group the fourth-largest in the European parliament.

Known as the Europe of Nations and Freedom, the group has 58 MEPs and is one of the smallest in parliament, behind the centre-right, centre-left, liberals, greens and Tory-led Eurosceptic group.

Salvini name-checked Farage in his victory speech on Sunday night, after his League party topped the EU election polls in Italy.

“Not only is the League the first party in Italy, but also Marine Le Pen is the first party in France, Nigel Farage is the first party in the UK … It is the sign of a Europe that is changing.”

But if Farage moves his forces into the Salvini group, there are no guarantees he would have a leadership role.

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Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, the newly re-elected Brexit party MEP Jonathan Bullock said his preference was to keep the EFDD going.

It is unclear whether Brexit party MEPs would back a move to join Salvini and Le Pen. Of the 29 Brexit party MEPs, 26 will be new to the European parliament.

Le Pen, who has tried and failed to work with Farage, said before last weekend’s elections she did not know whether the Brexit party leader would join her group.

Speaking at a far-right rally in Milan earlier this month, Le Pen said: “Nigel Farage leads the EFDD group, we don’t know if this group will be able to maintain itself as all the cards will be reshuffled after the elections.”

Zanni was elected to the European parliament in 2014 for M5S and became part of Farage’s group. But he later defected to join the League, making the switch to the far-right group in the European parliament.