French National Front leader Marine Le Pen and other far-right representatives have started negotiations to try to form a group in the European parliament before the end of June.<br /><br />So far, Le Pen has the backing of the Dutch PVV of Geert Wilders, the Austrian FPO, Italy’s Northern League, and Belgium’s Flemish Interest party. Two more nationalities are needed to form a parliamentary bloc.<br /><br />Speaking in Brussels, Marine Le Pen said: “If we are telling you we are certain we will have a group, it’s because we mean it. We have five nationalities out of the seven needed. That’s a solid base of 38 MEPs. We just had a meeting and have seen that the combinations available are infinite.”<br /><br />Nigel Farage of Britain’s UKIP party has ruled out any alliance with Le Pen’s party.<br /><br />Analyst David O’Leary explained: “The defeat of the Slovak nationalists who they considered in their camp was a blow to them and also the Sweden Democrats look like they may not join the Le Pen group, so she may struggle to actually form this group.”<br /><br />As the meeting of Le Pen and the other far-right leaders was taking place hundreds of demonstrators protested against the group outside the European parliament.<br /><br />The National Front leader faces a tough challenge of forming a Eurosceptic bloc without having the support of openly neo-Nazi groups. She has already ruled out an alliance with Greece’s Golden Dawn, Hungary’s Jobbik or Germany’s National Democratic Party.<br /><br />Euronews’ correspondent in Brussels, Audrey Tilve, explained, “having a parliamentary group means receiving important grants, being permitted to hold the presidency of parliamentary committees and write reports. Therefore the groups have a say in shaping European legislation.”
