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The main center-right family in the European parliament does not want its members to appear publicly alongside far-right lawmakers, even if they align with them in voting within the European Parliament.
According to officials from the European People’s Party, the group led by German Manfred Weber is considering sanctions against Slovenian MEP Branko Grims, after he took part in an event involving members of the far right Patriots for Europe (PfE) and Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) groups, as well as the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).
EPP officials say Weber has asked the group’s presidency to draw up a concrete proposal for sanctions against Grims. The measures could range from stripping him of speaking time during plenary sessions to expelling him from the group altogether.
No final decision has been made yet, as the next Presidency meeting is convened for mid-June, but this episode could prove embarrassing for the group. Grims has repeatedly defied its position by advocating cooperation with far-right parties — a clear red line for the EPP leadership.
Grims “has been begging for sanctions,” an EPP source told Euronews. “We just fear this would help him with his voters, as he likes to be seen as a victim of censorship.”
Grims attended a conference last week titled “Towards a Right-Wing Majority in the European Parliament,” where he argued that mainstream conservative and sovereignist parties across the Parliament should cooperate more closely — a position that clashes with the EPP’s official line.
The MEP’s stance is on the hard-right edge of the EPP: he has used very hard-line rhetoric towards migrants in his Parliamentary activity and social media posts, and has previously praised cooperation with extreme right forces.
Weber has repeatedly stressed his preference for cooperating with traditional allies, including the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the liberal Renew Europe groups.
He has also publicly supported maintaining the so-called “cordon sanitaire” — a political firewall aimed at preventing cooperation with extremist parties — and has described the fight against far-right populism as the party’s “main battle” going forward.
Grims, however, has pointed to the recent alignment between centre-right and far-right lawmakers on migration legislation as an example of cooperation that should be expanded in the future.
“I personally reject the politics of exclusion,” he told Euronews.
“Participating in politics when it comes to defending fundamental human and civilizational values is the most normal thing in politics,” he said, describing the use of the term “far right” to describe nationalist forces in the Parliament as “offensive and nonsensical.”
The Slovenian MEP argued that he participated in the conference alongside lawmakers who backed the “return regulation” — a controversial proposal aimed at accelerating migrant returns — which he described as “the basis for remigration.”
When the law was endorsed by the Parliament in March, a backlash erupted over the cooperation between the EPP and far right groups in drafting the bill at the committee level via a secret WhatsApp chat.
The issue was particularly controversial in Germany, where the EPP’s member party CDU/CSU rejected being linked in any way to the far right Alternative for Germany, which is part of the ESN group. Chancellor Friedrich Merz then said that Weber “has the responsibility” to end any sort of collaboration.
While the EPP leadership has always ruled out any formal alliance with the far-right, the group’s voting track record in the Parliament indicates a near-total alignment on migration-related files, which are usually approved by an alternative majority composed of the EPP, ECR, PfE, and ESN.
“Usually the EPP takes hard positions on migrations, which far right groups could back with no need for coordination”, a Parliament official told Euronews. “They ultimately cooperate, without saying it.”
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