13 Aug 2012, 12:30 pm
JakobVirgil wrote:
They sound like a great bunch of guys to eat lunch with. 
I'm not sure I'd want to sit with a bunch of irredentists (of several tripes), violent anti-Hungarian thugs, homophobes and anti-Semites, thanks. The group also contains the Vlaams Belang, which is a less extreme incarnation of the rather xenophobic (and outlawed) Vlaams Blok party.
It is worth noting that they aren't all like that - for example:
- The BZÖ MEP is a conservative liberal from the centre-right who is concerned about the impact that Islam has been having on his country - definitely not a fascist though.
- Hans-Peter Martin and the MEP that were formerly allied to him are pro-transparency in the EU - apparently, Martin wanted to join the very Europhile "liberal" ALDE group at the formation of this present EU parliament in 2009 but has denied it.
- The Spanish Union, Progress and Democracy party are social liberal and a centre-left party
- The Dutch Party for Freedom are an anti-immigration, anti-Islam right-wing populist party - I actually agree more or less with their analysis of the rise of Islamist fundamentalism in Europe; what I don't agree with is all of their policies, as I think that some of them are way too extreme and unworkable.
- There is a UKIP MEP in there that left the EFD in protest - Mike Nattrass is standing down, but he is quite a typical conservative UKIP type.
- There is also an ex-UKIP MEP in Nikki Sinclaire, who is quite classical liberal/libertarian and is very much against the EU.
