Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty (french: Identité, tradition, souveraineté, ITS, stylized its) was a

far-right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

political group A political group is a group consisting of political parties or legislators of aligned ideologies. A technical group is similar to a political group, but with members of differing ideologies. International terms Equivalent terms are used differ ...

in the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

which was composed of 23 MEPs from European parties during the 6th term. A common political charter for the group was signed on 9 January 2007, and the group was formally recognized by Parliamentary president

Josep Borrell Josep Borrell Fontelles (; born 24 April 1947) is a Spanish politician serving as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy since 1 December 2019. A member of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE), he served ...

at the start of the EP plenary session on 15 January. Following remarks made by ITS member

Alessandra Mussolini Alessandra is a female given name of Italian origin, meaning ''defender of men''. It is the Italian form of the female given name Alexandra and the female form of the male given name Alessandro. Alessandra may refer to: * Alessandra Ambrosio (bo ...

that

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n ITS members found insulting, the

Greater Romania Party The Greater Romania Party ( ro, Partidul România Mare, PRM) is a Romanian nationalist political party. Founded in May 1991 by Eugen Barbu and Corneliu Vadim Tudor, it was led by the latter from that point until his death in September 2015. The ...

(PRM) withdrew from the group, thus disqualifying it as an official group. Hence, it formally ceased to exist on 14 November 2007.

History

To form a political group in the European Parliament, there needed to be 20 MEPs from six different states (subsequently increased to 25 MEPs from seven states, for the 2009 session). The accession of

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

and

brought into the European Parliament a number of new far-right MEPs providing sufficient numbers to form a far right group. Incentives for forming a group are approximately €1 million in public funds and guaranteed seats on the

committees of the European Parliament The committees of the European Parliament are designed to aid the European Commission in initiating legislation. Standing committees are made up of Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), who are directly elected to the seats in the European ...

. There were concerns in other parties about public funds and influence going towards a group with such an ideology. Despite attempts to block the group's formation, it was formed on 15 January 2007. However other MEPs successfully blocked ITS from gaining positions on Parliamentary committees, including two vice-presidencies, despite normally being entitled to them. The largest component was France's National Front and its chairman in the Parliament,

Bruno Gollnisch Bruno Gollnisch (; born 28 January 1950) is a French academic and politician, a member of the National Front (FN) far-right party. He was a member of the European Parliament and was chairman of the European Parliamentary group ' Identity, Tra ...

, was chair of the ITS group. The National Front had previous allied with other far right groups in the 1980s. Following the Bulgarian European Parliament elections, the group gained two more Ataka MEPs,

Slavcho Binev Slavcho Penchev Binev ( bg, Славчо Пенчев Бинев) (born 10 December 1965 in Sofia), sometimes Slavi Binev ( bg, Слави Бинев), is a Bulgarian politician and former taekwondo champion. Before politics Binev was a tae ...

and Desislav Chukolov. The PRM announced on 8 November 2007 that it would withdraw its five members from the group on 12 November 2007 over comments made by

over the expulsion of Romanian criminals from Italy in early November 2007, thus dooming the parliamentary group to falter less than a year after its creation.

Andreas Mölzer Andreas Mölzer (born 2 December 1952) is an Austrian politician and former Member of the European Parliament for the Freedom Party of Austria. Biography Born in Leoben, Styria, Andreas Mölzer is of Styrian origin and attended grammar school ...

stated in an interview with ''

Die Presse ''Die Presse'' is a German-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vienna, Austria. It is considered a newspaper of record for Austria. History and profile ''Die Presse'' was first printed on 3 July 1848 as a liberal (libertarian)-bourgeoi ...

'' that the group was searching for other MEPs who might join their group to save it. Other MEPs had already welcomed the prospect of the group's demise with

Alyn Smith Alyn Edward Smith (born 15 September 1973) is a Scottish politician. A member of the Scottish National Party (SNP), he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Stirling at the 2019 general election. He also served as a Member of the E ...

MEP stating that it "warms the heart" to watch them arguing amongst themselves. During the previous months, the group had failed to act as a coherent political faction. It was announced that the group had been dissolved on 14 November 2007 after four of the five PRM members left the group.

Policies

The group's founding charter has been described as "broadly

anti-immigration Opposition to immigration, also known as anti-immigration, has become a significant political ideology in many countries. In the modern sense, immigration refers to the entry of people from one state or territory into another state or territory ...

, anti-

EU constitution The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European U ...

and anti- Turkish EU membership," while participants emphasised that the group would function relatively loosely. Alessandra Mussolini described it as "more a technical than a political group ..We are mainly getting together out of necessity. Survival is only possible in a political group." The Romanian PRM leader stated that he favoured a strong association and eventual EU membership for Turkey provided it settles the dispute regarding Cyprus and that the common ground for the new group is based exactly on the values the group's name suggests.Romanian ''OTV'' channel, January 10, 2007

Members

The membership of ITS while it existed between January and November 2007:

References

External links

* ''New political group: Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty'' in
Opening of the January plenary session - Welcome of Bulgarian and Romanian MEPs / Formation of a new political group
',

News (2007-01-15) * Kontakt. Programm für Kunst und Zivilgesellschaft:
Extended European right-wing extremism: new patriots, new alliances
', (2007-03-27) *
Who's who in EU's new far-right group
',

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

(2007-01-12) *

Matthew Tempest Matthew Tempest is a British journalist and documentary film-maker now living in Berlin, as editor of EUobserver.com after postings in Paris for AFP, and in Brussels covering Brexit. He was formerly a political correspondent TheGuardian.com, whi ...

:
British MEP joins far-right group
', ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' (2007-01-11) *

Ian Traynor Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

:
Romania's first gift to the European Union - a caucus of neo-fascists and Holocaust deniers
', ''

'' (2007-01-08) {{European Parliament groups Organizations established in 2007 Organizations disestablished in 2007 Far-right politics Former European Parliament party groups Far-right political parties

History

Policies

Members

See also

References

Further reading

External links