The European Parliament voted to open a formal investigation into whether the far-right Europe of Sovereign Nations party family complies with core EU values, in the first use of a procedure under revised regulations that took effect last October.
In a secret ballot in Strasbourg on Tuesday, 414 lawmakers voted in favour, 224 against and 18 abstained. The Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations will now examine the group, whose members include Germany's Alternative for Germany, France's Reconquête and Italy's National Future. The authority's dossier reportedly contains antisemitic, anti-LGBT and anti-immigration rhetoric by ESN members, as well as a Cologne court ruling that found AfD was working against the democratic order.
If the authority ultimately finds violations, it can recommend ESN's removal from the European party register, risking the loss of nearly two million euros in annual EU funding.