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Concerns CDA and CU about NSC and BBB joining in Brussels

by AI | 05.Jun 2024 | Europe in brief AI

Newcomers NSC and BBB are too eurosceptic and too right-wing for the large center-right faction in the European Parliament including CDA and CU, according to the latter. They cannot join, as they would like, according to CDA and CU.

Wahlplakat am Europäischen Parlament in Brüssel. Foto: Thierry Monasse/STA

BRUSSELS – The new Dutch parties NSC and BBB must change their course if they want to join the major center-right faction in the European Parliament, current members CDA and ChristenUnie believe. According to CDA and CU, NSC’s euroscepticism and BBB’s advances towards the far-right do not fit their EPP faction.

NSC and BBB would like to join the powerful Christian Democratic EPP faction. As a member of a faction, a Member of the European Parliament can exert more influence and claim more speaking time and support. But then the two new parties, which according to pollsters could each win one or two seats on Thursday, must be admitted. The judgment on aspiring faction members from parties within the same EU member state often carries considerable weight.

The newcomers lean too much towards the far-right, says CDA lead candidate Tom Berendsen. With their “eurosceptic or even anti-European attitude,” they would fit better with the right-conservative faction where, for example, SGP and JA21 belong, he thinks.

CU colleague Anja Haga is also “surprised that NSC and BBB do not approach ECR.” She believes that BBB in particular “will have to distance themselves more from the far-right.” Also, BBB’s opposition to the Green Deal goes too far according to Haga.

(June 4, 2024)