STRASBOURG Far-right politicians in the European Parliament will lose tens of thousands of euros to promote their ideas because their political group collapsed when five Romanian MEPs quit. The Identity, Sovereignty and Tradition group disbanded after ten months because the number of its members had fallen under 20, the minimum needed to form a political group, the EU legislature said.

The ITS included Jean-Marie Le Pen of France and Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of the Italian wartime Fascist dictator. The seeds of the group’s collapse were sown last week when she insulted the Romanian people, a Romanian ITS member said.

The Greater Romania Party (PRM) said that her insults came in comments about the expulsion of dozens of Romanians from Italy after a Romanian Gypsy was arrested last week over the murder of the wife of an Italian naval officer. Ms Mussolini was reported to have said: “Breaking the law has become a way of life for Romanians.” The demise of the grouping was welcomed by EU mainstream parties. (AP/AFP)

Times Recommends

• Fish and chip shops ‘selling cobbler as cod’
• T in the Park festival at Kinross
• Body Watch