A Dutch Eurosceptic and populist party, the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BoerBurgerBeweging – BBB), decided to leave the European People’s Party (EPP) Group in the European Parliament and join the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group. BBB partnered with Geert Wilders‘ far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) in the previous Dutch coalition government.
The two Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) representing the BBB, Sander Smit and Jessica van Leeuwen, were welcomed by ECR leaders after their formal admission at a Group meeting. The ECR includes various political parties, ranging from the hard pro-Kremlin far-right, such as the irredentist Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), to the post-Neofascist Brothers of Italy (Fd’I) led by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, as well as the ultra-conservative nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party in Poland and the conservative Civic Democratic Party (ODS) from the Czech Republic.
With the addition of the BBB delegation, the ECR Group now comprises 81 Members of the European Parliament.
Nicola Procaccini, Co-Chairman of the ECR Group, welcomed the new members: “We are delighted to welcome Sander Smit and Jessika van Leeuwen to the ECR family. Their arrival further strengthens our Group as the natural home for centre-right forces committed to reforming the European Union with common sense and pragmatism. The ECR continues to play a constructive role in the European Parliament, working to build broad majorities around practical solutions and a Europe that focuses on the big challenges while doing less, but doing it better.”
Explaining the decision to leave the EPP Group, BBB parliamentary group leader in the Dutch Second Chamber, Henk Vermeer, said:
“As BBB, we do not allow our representatives to be silenced in Parliament. That is why, after two years, BBB has decided to leave the EPP Group of von der Leyen in the European Parliament. Following a thorough analysis within our party and among our supporters, BBB has concluded in recent months that the ECR Group offers the best foundation for implementing our programme. In line with the core thread of our election manifesto: less Brussels, more room for farmers, fishermen, regions, and national sovereignty. And that fits seamlessly within the course of the ECR.”
Sander Smit MEP, BBB delegation leader in the European Parliament, added: “Since the European elections, we have wanted to act as the connecting element for broad centre-right cooperation in the European Parliament, across group boundaries. Over the past period, we have worked intensively with numerous EPP colleagues. BBB MEPs will and want to continue that pleasant, close cooperation. Now, from within the ECR Group, we will keep building bridges to the other groups in the centre and on the right. Only through such broad cooperation can we achieve the much-needed course correction in the EU.
“The ECR is growing in influence and becoming increasingly crucial to getting things done in Europe, both in the European Parliament and beyond. We only need to look at the decisive role that Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni are now playing on the EU stage as government leaders,” Smit added.
