Anders Vistisen, believes during an exclusive interview with Euronews, that there was no more political gap between the formations of Giorgia Meloni and Marine Le Pen than there is within the other political groups .
The man leading the electoral campaign for the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) party is convinced that the two populist groups in the European Parliament will come together to form a united body during the next legislature.
In an interview with Euronews on Tuesday, Anders Vistisen made it clear that he believed there was no substantial political divide between his group – which is home to Marine Le Pen’s National Rally, the Italian Lega and Alternative für Deutschland ( German AfD) – and the European Reformists and Conservatives (CRE), who seek to present themselves as less radical than their Identity and Democracy counterparts.
CRE includes parties like Vox in Spain and Law and Justice (PiS) in Poland, Fratelli d’Italia of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and the Civil Democratic Party (ODS) of Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala. The latter two are controversially presented as potential partners of the right-wing formation, the European People’s Party (EPP) of Ursula von der Leyen, after the June election. These rumors signal that the cordon santé with the far-right could disappear.
“What’s wrong, in my opinion, is that there are two groups on the right, and I think that has more to do with big personalities in some of the biggest parties than with political differences“, assures Anders Vistisen, who comes from the Danish People’s Party, to Euronews.
“There is no more political division between ID and CRE than what can be seen within the EPP, the S&D or the Renew party, for example.“
Asked about the possibility for the two parties to form a united group in the European Parliament, Anders Vistisen replies:that we will see this one day (…) I think that maybe not only after this election, but I think that the French presidential election which will take place in a few years (in 2027) could be a very interesting moment to watch.”
Anders Vistisen spoke a few hours before a crisis broke out within his group. Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) has indicated that it will no longer sit with Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in the chamber following comments on the SS from its head of the list, Maximilian Krah. These comments led to the resignation of Maximilian Krah from the federal executive council of his party.
After his interview with Euronews, Anders Vistisen declared on the social networkshown by his statements and actions that he did not belong to the ID group“.
“If the AfD does not take advantage of the situation and get rid of Mr. Krah, the position of the DF (Danish People’s Party) is that the AfD must leave the ID group“, added Anders Vistisen.
Asked a few hours earlier about the deep divisions within ID and whether growing discontent with the increasingly extremist positions of the AfD could encourage member parties to join CRE, Anders Vistisen defended the unity of his formation .
“No, I don’t really see that. I think this is a false statement“, he replies.
Anders Vistisen says deeper divisions could be seen within CRE, particularly regarding their stance on Ukraine, adding that Poland’s PiS – which strongly supports EU aid to Kyiv – had invited the National Rally and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán within their European party despite their skepticism towards military support for Ukraine.
A National Rally source told Euronews that Marine Le Pen’s party wanted to join the same group as Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz, which currently does not belong to any European political group after being forced to leave the EPP in 2021.
Vistisen was not paid by Voice of Europe
This latest debacle follows multiple controversies surrounding the AfD which have agitated the ID group. In January, AfD figures reportedly met with neo-Nazi groups to discuss plans to deport millions of immigrants, including some with German citizenship, which caused unease among their European families, according to Euronews sources.
Maximilian Krah’s aide was arrested last month on suspicion of spying for China, while Petr Bystron, second on the AfD list, is accused of receiving up to 20,000 euros in cash from Russia, as part of an investigation into an alleged pro-Kremlin influence operation.
Anders Vistisen admits to being “always concerned about external influences” and promised that if the investigations concluded that the candidates were guilty and the AfD did not suspend their membership, the office of his European party would take the matter in hand.
But he defends the decision not to take immediate action in response to allegations of foreign interference within his party.
“Mr Krah went through the ethics body of the European Parliament, which did not recommend any of the sanctions available to him,” explains Anders Vistisen.
“If his political opponents have not recommended sanctions, it is very difficult for us as a political group to sanction in this context, but I am very happy that the AfD has already stipulated that if these allegations are true, it would alone suspend Mr. Krah’s membership in the AfD and he would therefore no longer be a member of the ID group“.
The media, Voice of Europe, at the heart of the investigation led by a Belgian prosecutor, is now included on the European Union blacklist.
Asked whether he was paid for a one-on-one interview he gave to Voice of Europe earlier this year, Anders Vistisen categorically denies it.
“No of course not. This interview was organized under the same conditions as this one. I was asked to give an interview and I did it. It’s my job as a politician“, replies the candidate.
“I have an impeccable track record of being tough on Russia and China. No one ever doubted it. So sometimes these allegations are, of course, used politically (…) I think you can easily be yourself without spreading fake news“.
Lack of EU support deprives Ukraine of ‘fighting chance’
Anders Vistisen strongly criticizes the European Union for what he calls its inability to “take the lead” when it comes to providing Kyiv with the military aid and equipment the country needs to resist Russia’s invasion.
“I challenge the perception that Europe has been very supportive of Ukraine“, he explains.
“When it comes to concrete actions, it lags behind. No, if the Americans were not there to help the Ukrainians, the war would be lost for them because Europe did not rise to the occasion.“, he adds.
“I think that if Ukraine were to have any chance of pushing Russia back, across the borders from before the Russian invasion of Crimea, the military aid is far too little and far too late, unfortunately“.
He nevertheless rejected the prospect of Ukraine joining the bloc as a full member state, saying EU leaders were trying to impose deadlines to speed up Kyiv’s accession.
“These are the same forces that complain about the rule of law in Hungary (…) who are now saying that we must speed up a procedure where we let in countries whose record is much worse than that of Hungary of Orbán regarding many of these criteria“, says Anders Vistisen.