Beppe Grillo's 5 Star Movement rejoins EFDD group

The Italian 5 Star Movement's MEPs have rejoined the EFDD group they co-founded with UKIP just 48 hours after leaving to attempt to join the federalist ALDE group led by Guy Verhofstadt.

The ALDE group rejected Beppe Grillo's application to join their pro-EU, anti-democracy alliance which would have meant the 5 Star Movement's MEPs sitting with the non-inscrits ("independent" MEPs) with little in the way of funding to do their jobs.

Reports suggest that some changes have been made to how the group is run to get Grillo and his colleagues back on board but they don't say what. Details will no doubt come out in the media soon enough once the UKIP-hating left wing press have got over their disappointment that the EFDD group hasn't folded and lost Nigel Farage his front seat and speaking rights.

ALDE group reject 5 Star Movement

The Italian 5 Star Movement has been knocked back by the ALDE group, leaving them unattached and out of pocket after voting to leave the EFDD group yesterday.

Grillo says that the party will attempt to form its own group in time for the next EU elections in 2019 but in the meantime, the funding that his party will no longer be getting will go to the groups that promote the very things his movement opposes.

Oops.

Italian 5 Star Movement leave EFDD group to seek membership of federalist ALDE

The Italian 5 Star Movement have voted to leave the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) group they co-founded with UKIP and join the pro-EU, anti-democracy Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe (ALDE) group headed up by Guy Verhofstadt.

It's not that surprising that the 5 Star Movement is looking to the future without UKIP in the EU Parliament but it's quite bizarre that a party founded on the core principal of securing a referendum on leaving the €uro and introducing direct democracy would join a grouping that is fundamentally opposed to both of those ideals.

The ALDE group has to vote on whether to accept Beppe Grillo's motley crew of anarchists but despite some strong opposition in the group to the 5 Star Movement's lack of commitment to the EU project the fact that it will bring them more money to UKIP's disadvantage will smooth the way to their joining.

There will be a reduction in funding to the EFDD group to reflect its smaller size going forward but the overall effect will be somewhat muted as Grillo's party received a sizeable chunk of it as the second largest delegation. It does leave the EFDD group in a precarious position, potentially needing only to lose a single MEP to fall short of the country requirements to form an official group. The other groups will be working hard to poach one of the EFDD members to force it to fold as they have done in the past but something usually turns up when this happens, much to their dismay.

The decision hasn't gone down too well in Italy where Grillo has been criticised by politicians on the left and the right and by Italians who feel let down that he has aligned his party with a group of federalist politicians.