European Parliament's competing hard-right groups will unite to form bloc, Anders Vistisen says
Vistisen exclusively tells Euronews there is “no more political divide” between Meloni and Le Pen’s political factions than there is within other mainstream political groups.
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00:00The European Parliament's two hard-right groups could join to form a bloc.
00:07That's the prediction of Anders Vistersen, who's been fronting the far-right group of
00:12parties' campaign ahead of the European elections.
00:16Speaking with Euronews, Vistersen said that there is no real political divide between
00:21his Identity and Democracy party, which includes Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement Nationale,
00:27and the less hard-line European Conservatives and Reformists, which includes Giorgia Meloni's
00:32Fratelli d'Italia.
00:35There is no more political divide between the ID and the ECR than what you can see within
00:39the EPP, the SND or the Renew parties, for instance.
00:43So could you see those two right-wing groups reorganising themselves, particularly after
00:47the elections? Could you see a possible unification of those two groups?
00:51Yeah, I think you'll see that someday. You already have it in the Council of Europe,
00:55that the two groups have merged together in a dual party. I think maybe not just after
01:01this election, but I think the French presidential elections that are coming up in a couple of
01:06years could be a point in time that is very interesting to look forward to.
01:11Vistersen spoke hours before a crisis erupted within his party. Marine Le Pen's team said
01:17their party would no longer sit with Germany's AfD over damning comments made by their lead
01:23election candidate Maximilian Krah, claiming Nazi SS members were not all criminals.
01:29Krah has since been banned from campaigning.
01:32Another AfD candidate is facing allegations he was paid by Russia to spread pro-Kremlin
01:37propaganda. Vistersen himself was interviewed earlier this year by Voice of Europe, the
01:43news company now sanctioned by the EU, suspected of being at the heart of the Russian influence
01:48operation.
01:50You gave a one-on-one interview to Voice of Europe earlier this year. Were you paid for
01:56that interview?
01:57No, of course not. That interview was set up at the same premise as this interview.
02:01I was asked to give an interview and I applied. That's my job as a politician. But it is
02:08worrisome that this outside influence is also generally used to spread misinformation about
02:15the right. I have an impeccable record when it comes to being firm on Russia, firm on
02:21China.
02:22But despite these multiple scandals, Vistersen's European party is surging in the polls and
02:27could compete to become the parliament's third biggest force. The other right-wing group,
02:32the ECR, has consistently rejected a potential merger. You can watch the full interview on
02:38Euronews' Global Conversation.