The EU has consistently raised the bar for the formation of groups in the EU Parliament to try and squeeze out the smaller parties and keep all the influence with the europhile parties. The current rules require a group to have at least 25 members representing 7 member states which UKIP managed to achieve last time but is struggling to do this time after losing members to the European Conservatives & Reformists that the Tories run and a new group being set up by the French National Front.
The unwillingness of the EU to listen to what they're being told has not only allowed extremists to win seats across the EU, it has allowed them to gain influence in the EU Parliament by poaching members from UKIP's moderate EFD group to join a group led by the French equivalent of the BNP. Once Le Pen and her allies are settled in, the Tories and the other eurofederalists will wish they had UKIP and the EFD moderating the eurosceptic contingent in the EU Parliament.
It's looking increasingly unlikely that the EFD group will survive but never say never, Farage always has something up his sleeve.
wonkotsane is an author at Bloggers4UKIP.
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