By Martin Banks - 7th July 2009
British National Party leader Nick Griffin has admitted defeat in his attempts to form a new political group.
Speaking to this website, the newly-elected MEP said he had failed to convince other like-minded groups to form an alliance in the new parliament.
He accepted that this meant the BNP, which won two seats in the recent European elections, would "not carry the same weight" than if they had managed to join forces with other groups.
"It is disappointing but not that surprising," said Griffin who, along with Andrew Brons, won a seat in the recent European elections.
Speaking in Brussels on Tuesday, Griffin said, "I am afraid we have been unsuccessful in our efforts to form a group."
He said that negotiations, which had been ongoing for several weeks, hinged on the BNP being able to enlist the support of the Italian Lega Nord party, which won nine seats in the elections.
"We were told they could not join with us because they are part of the coalition government in Italy. But for that, I think they would have joined us," he said.
Instead, Lega Nord last week announced it would form an alliance with the UK Independence Party.
Griffin, who is accompanied in parliament by a bodyguard because of threats to his safety, said they had been in talks with several groups. One is Jobbik, the far right Hungarian party, which won 14.8 per cent of the vote in the Hungarian European elections.
The party, also known as the Movement for a Better Hungary, won nearly as many votes as the ruling socialists, securing three seats in parliament.
Others involved in the negotiations, Griffin told this website, were France's Front National, which won three seats, including the re-election of its veteran leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, Belgium's Vlaams Belang and Ataka, the nationalist Bulgarian party.
Griffin said, "We needed at least 25 members from seven different member states to form a group. There is no doubt that we would have been able to wield a lot more influence if we could have formed a group.
"No one was prepared to commit themselves knowing that we had not got Lega Nord on board. Even so, we will continue to work together with these other groups and share ideas. We will have less access to things like speaking time and committee votes but it's too bad."
He said he and Brons would now sit as non-attached members in parliament, which meets for the first time next week.
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