By Elinor Blair - 29th June 2004
A new European Parliament group of eurosceptics who plan to block an EU constitution have set out their stall in Brussels.
Danish MEP Jens-Peter Bonde said the group - provisionally called “Independence and democracy” - will have “two different faces to the outside world…two different alternatives to the existing, undemocratic EU”.
One wing of the group will consist of hard-line sceptics whose aim is to pull out of the EU. It will contain members of the nationalist League of Polish Families and the United Kingdom Independence Party. This section of the party will be led by UKIP MEP Nigel Farage.
Maciej Giertych of the League of Polish Families said that he was happy to be able construct, “the political group which has a common purpose of preventing the construction of a European superstate”.
“Every move towards increasing integration will be opposed by us,” he said. “Every move aimed at defending the sovereignty of individual nations will be supported by us.”
The other side of the group will embody the “reformist option” led by Bonde who is seeking to slim down the EU and “to make it transparent”.
The June List from Sweden, the June Movement from Denmark, the Dutch from ChristenUnie and the French Mouvement pour la France will sit in this more moderate section of the group.
At present the group has 31 members from six countries and hopes to draw in other MEPs who remain undecided on their grouping.
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