Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty

European Parliament political group

Nationalism^[1]^[2]
Ultraconservatism^[3]
Sovereigntism^[4]
Euroscepticism^[2]^[4]
Anti-immigration^[2]^[5]

Political positionFar-right^[2]^[4]^[6]^[7]From15 January 2007To14 November 2007Chaired byBruno Gollnisch

Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty (French: Identité, tradition, souveraineté, ITS, stylised its) was a far-right^[6]^[7] political group in the European Parliament which was composed of 23 MEPs from European parties during the 6th term. A common political charter for the group was signed on 9 January 2007, and the group was formally recognised by Parliamentary president Josep Borrell at the start of the EP plenary session on 15 January.^[8]^[9] Following remarks made by ITS member Alessandra Mussolini that Romanian ITS members found insulting, the Greater Romania Party (PRM) withdrew from the group, thus disqualifying it as an official group. Hence, it formally ceased to exist on 14 November 2007.^[10]^[11]^[12]

History

To form a political group in the European Parliament, there needed to be 20 MEPs from six different states (subsequently increased to 25 MEPs from seven states, for the 2009 session^[13]). The accession of Bulgaria and Romania brought into the European Parliament a number of new far-right MEPs providing sufficient numbers to form a far right group.^[14] Incentives for forming a group are approximately €1 million in public funds and guaranteed seats on the committees of the European Parliament. There were concerns in other parties about public funds and influence going towards a group with such an ideology.^[14] Despite attempts to block the group's formation, it was formed on 15 January 2007.^[8] However other MEPs successfully blocked ITS from gaining positions on Parliamentary committees, including two vice-presidencies, despite normally being entitled to them.^[15]

The largest component was France's National Front and its chairman in the Parliament, Bruno Gollnisch, was chair of the ITS group. The National Front had previous allied with other far right groups in the 1980s.^[14] Following the Bulgarian European Parliament elections, the group gained two more Ataka MEPs, Slavcho Binev and Desislav Chukolov.

The PRM announced on 8 November 2007 that it would withdraw its five members from the group on 12 November 2007 over comments made by Alessandra Mussolini over the expulsion of Romanian criminals from Italy in early November 2007, thus dooming the parliamentary group to falter less than a year after its creation.^[16] Andreas Mölzer stated in an interview with Die Presse that the group was searching for other MEPs who might join their group to save it.^[17] Other MEPs had already welcomed the prospect of the group's demise^[18] with Alyn Smith MEP stating that it "warms the heart" to watch them arguing amongst themselves. During the previous months, the group had failed to act as a coherent political faction.^[19]^{[neutrality is disputed]}

It was announced that the group had been dissolved on 14 November 2007 after four of the five PRM members left the group.^[20]

Policies

The group's founding charter has been described as "broadly anti-immigration, anti-EU constitution and anti-Turkish EU membership,"^[6]^[8] while participants emphasised that the group would function relatively loosely. Alessandra Mussolini described it as "more a technical than a political group [...] We are mainly getting together out of necessity. Survival is only possible in a political group."^[21]

The Romanian PRM leader stated that he favoured a strong association and eventual EU membership for Turkey provided it settles the dispute regarding Cyprus and that the common ground for the new group is based exactly on the values the group's name suggests.^[22]

Members

The membership of ITS while it existed between January and November 2007:

Country			Ideology	MEPs
France	National Front	FN	National conservatism Right-wing populism	7 / 732
Romania	Greater Romania Party	PRM	Romanian nationalism Romanian irredentism	5 / 732
Belgium	Vlaams Belang	VB	Flemish nationalism Right-wing populism	3 / 732
Bulgaria	Attack		Ultranationalism Right-wing populism	3 / 732
Italy	Social Alternative	AS	Neo-fascism Euroscepticism	1 / 732
Italy	Tricolour Flame	FT	Neo-fascism Euroscepticism	1 / 732
Austria	Freedom Party of Austria	FPO	National conservatism Right-wing populism	1 / 732
United Kingdom	Ashley Mote (Ind.)			2 / 732
Romania	Mircea Coșea (Ind.)			2 / 732

References

^ Nordsieck, Wolfram (2007). "European Union". Archived from the original on 20 October 2007. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Demise of the Euro-Racists: Xenophobia Scuppers EU Far-Right Group". Der Spiegel. 15 November 2007. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
^ Kraske, Marion; Schlamp, Hans-Jürgen (23 January 2007). "Far-Right MPs Join Forces in EU Parliament: A Small Thorn in The EU's Side". Der Spiegel.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Far Right – DW – 01/16/2007". dw.com. 16 January 2007. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
^ "Far-right MEPs announce alliance". BBC News. 10 January 2007. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
^ ^a ^b ^c Duncan Watts (2008). The European Union. Edinburgh University Press. p. 159. ISBN 978-0-7486-3298-5.
^ ^a ^b Senem Aydin-Düzgit (2012). Constructions of European Identity: Debates and Discourses on Turkey and the EU. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 16. ISBN 978-1-137-16085-0.
^ ^a ^b ^c Mahony, Honor (9 January 2007). "Far-right group formed in European Parliament". EUobserver. Retrieved 10 January 2007.
^ "Rechtsaußenbündnis im Europaparlament entsteht" (in German). Der Standard. 9 January 2007. Retrieved 10 January 2007.
^ European Parliament's Far-Right Bloc Collapses, Deutsche Welle, 15 November 2007
^ MEPs welcome fall of far-right group EU Observer
^ "End of the Identity , Tradition and Sovereignty political group as Romanian MEPs leave".
^ Times OnLine "No shortage of European bedfellows for BNP," by David Charter (8 June 2009 - retrieved on 10 June 2009).
^ ^a ^b ^c Brunwasser, Matthew (14 January 2007). "Bulgaria and Romania bolster far right profile in EU Parliament". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
^ "Far-Right Wing Group Sidelined in European Parliament". Deutsche Welle. 2 February 2007. Retrieved 7 July 2007.
^ theparliament.com - Far-right group in EU parliament collapses
^ ""Rechtsaußen-Fraktion" nach Mussolini-Ausbruch vor Ende «". Diepresse.com. 8 November 2007. Retrieved 17 June 2010.
^ "EU far-right bloc faces collapse". BBC News. 9 November 2007. Retrieved 5 May 2010.
^ Mahony, Honor (8 November 2007). "Far-right European parliament group on verge of collapse". EU Observer. Retrieved 9 November 2007.
^ theparliament.com - MEPs cheer collapse of far-right ITS group
^ Mahony, Honor (8 January 2007). "Plans for European far-right group intensify". EUobserver. Retrieved 13 January 2007.
^ Romanian OTV channel, 10 January 2007

External links

New political group: Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty in Opening of the January plenary session - Welcome of Bulgarian and Romanian MEPs / Formation of a new political group, European Parliament News (2007-01-15)
Kontakt. Programm für Kunst und Zivilgesellschaft: Extended European right-wing extremism: new patriots, new alliances, (2007-03-27)
Who's who in EU's new far-right group, BBC News (2007-01-12)
Matthew Tempest: British MEP joins far-right group, The Guardian (2007-01-11)
Ian Traynor: Romania's first gift to the European Union - a caucus of neo-fascists and Holocaust deniers, The Guardian (2007-01-08)

Political groups of the European Parliament

European People's Party (177)
Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (140)
Renew Europe (102)
Greens–European Free Alliance (72)
European Conservatives and Reformists (68)
Identity and Democracy (59)
The Left in the European Parliament – GUE/NGL (37)
Non-Inscrits (50)

Previous groups

Nationalists / far-right	Eurodroite European Right (1984–1989) European Right (1989–1994) Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty (2007) Europe of Nations and Freedom (2015–2019)
National conservatives	European Democratic Union (1965–1973) European Progressive Democrats (1973–1984) European Democratic Alliance (1984–1995) Union for Europe (1995–1999) Union for Europe of the Nations (1999–2009)
Christian democrats / conservatives	Christian Democrats (1953–1979) European People's Party (1979–1999) European Conservatives (1973–1979) European Democrats (1979–1992) Forza Europa (1994–1995) European People's Party–European Democrats (1999–2009)
Liberals / centrists	Liberals and Allies (1953–1976) Liberals and Democrats (1976–1985) Liberal and Democratic Reformist Group (1985–1994) European Radical Alliance (1994–1999) European Liberal Democrat and Reform Party (1994–2004) Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (2004–2019)
Social democrats	Socialists (1953–1993) Party of European Socialists (1993–2009)
Communists / far-left	Communists and Allies (1973–1989) European United Left (1989–1993) Left Unity (1989–1994) European United Left (1994–1995)
Greens / regionalists	Rainbow Group (1984–1989) Rainbow Group (1989–1994) Greens (1989–1999)
Eurosceptics	Europe of Nations (1994–1996) Independents for a Europe of Nations (1996–1999) Europe of Democracies and Diversities (1999–2004) Independence/Democracy (2004–2009) Europe of Freedom and Democracy (2009–2014) Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (2014–2019)
Heterogeneous	Technical Group of Independents (1979–1984) Technical Group of Independents (1999–2001)