Polish man rescues UKIP’s European Parliament group from collapse
UKIP’s European Parliament group is set to be revived, after a Polish MEP stepped in to rescue the collapsing faction.
Nigel Farage’s anti-EU ‘Europe of Freedom and Democracy’ (EFDD) group collapsed on Friday when a Latvian MEP left, as it did not meet the minimum requirement of 25 members from 7 countries set by the Parliament to receive public funding.
However, the group has today successfully recruited right-wing Polish MEP Robert Iwaszkiewicz – again passing the 7 country requirement.
The move could save the party £1 million a year in public funding, which it stood to lose without the group.
Mr Iwaszkiewicz is a member of the fringe Kongres Nowej Prawicy (Congress of the New Right) party, which is strongly opposed to the recognition of same-sex marriage, and pledges to “Recognize the family, understood as a union between a woman and a man, as the basis of social life”.
Mr Iwaszkiewicz told Breitbart: “As a delegation member of the Congress of New Right I wanted to help the vital and unique Eurosceptic group in the European Parliament. I joined the EFDD Group because of two important values – opposition to EU bureaucracy and support for free markets so firmly supported by the UKIP delegation.”
Nigel Farage said: “To paraphrase Mark Twain ‘Rumours of our death have been greatly exaggerated.’ The Eurosceptics are now back with a bang, indeed we have never been away.
“Last week we were done over by the Feds, but today the EFDD Group is alive obviously having friends in the very highest places. In wireless terms…..the radio signal was weak for a few days but normal transmission has now been resumed.”
Despite the fact the closure of his group was triggered by regulations due to the defections of its own MEPs, Mr Farage blamed the European Parliament’s President for the collapse.
He said: “European Parliament President Schulz’s part in trying to shut us down last week was contemptible. It was manipulative backroom politics of the worst kind. But in his eagerness to silence the Eurosceptic voice he acted prematurely.”
Mr Iwaszkiewicz presumably has no plans to move to the UK.
