Morten Messerschmidt and his girlfriend Dot Wessman | Thomas Lekfeldt/EPA Messerschmidt quits as head of Danish People’s Party in European Parliament MEP is under fire for his leadership of the now-defunct Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy.

Morten Messerschmidt said Wednesday he would step down as leader of the Danish People's Party in the European Parliament, less than a week after being accused by another MEP of identity theft.

"I no longer feel I am the right person to be in charge," Messerschmidt said in a statement to Danish media. "Therefore, I accept the consequences and resign as leader of the Danish People's Party in the European Parliament."

Messerschmidt will remain as vice chairman and chief whip of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group, according to Kristian Oleson, his spokesman. The ECR is the Parliament's third-largest political group.

Last week MEP Rikke Karlsson, a former member of the Danish People’s Party, reported Messerschmidt to the Danish police, accusing him of using her name on official documents without her knowledge. Karlsson said she was named without her consent to the board of a pan-European party called Movement for a Europe of Liberties and Democracy (known as MELD) at a 2014 meeting at which she wasn’t present, Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet reported.

The announcement came the same day as Karlsson asked the European Parliament to reopen its investigations into MELD's finances under Messerschmidt's leadership.

Earlier this year, the European Parliament demanded that Messerschmidt repay around €400,000 in EU funds that was spent on political campaigning in Denmark and on a "golden handshake" to a party consultant. Messerschmidt has refused to repay the €170,000 given to the consultant as severance pay, which he claims is not his responsibility. A European Parliament spokeswoman said the institution is awaiting legal advice on how to recover the funds.

Karlsson left the party last year after Messerschmidt refused to give her access to MELD's accounts for 2014. In an email Wednesday to European Parliament President Martin Schulz, she demanded that the investigation be reopened, saying "[the institution] has until now investigated [the accounts of] 2013 and 2015. I am still puzzled, why 2014 is not investigated."

Messerschmidt rejected Karlsson's accusations of identity theft, saying the incorrect listing of her name and nationality on the party registration documents was an administrative error.