The far-right Finns Party has decided to leave the nationalist Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament to join the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), the party announced.
The “radical change in Finland’s security policy” caused by the Russia’s war on Ukraine led the party to “reexamine international cooperation networks,” the party’s statement reads. The war prompted Finland, which shares a 1,340-kilometer border with Russia, to join the NATO military alliance in a historic move for the traditionally nonaligned country.
The Finns party leadership “unanimously decided” to join a group “whose member parties are united by the uncompromising defense of Western civilization and the European security policy architecture” — a goal which can be “best promote[d] through the EU Parliament as a member of the ECR group.”
The Finns Party, which came in second in Finland’s general election Sunday, currently has two representatives in the European Parliament. It was previously a member of the ECR between 2014 and 2019 before joining ID.
With 64 current MEPs, the ECR group is the sixth-largest in the Parliament — just behind ID’s 66 European lawmakers.
Read more via Politico
