BRUSSELS, July 11 (Bernama-dpa) -- The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party announced the formation of a new right-wing group in the European Parliament on Wednesday.
As the spokesman for co-leader Alice Weidel announced, the "Europe of Sovereign Nations" parliamentary group will initially be made up of 25 MPs from a total of eight countries, 14 of whom are from the AfD.
The group is currently the smallest in the EU legislature.
Political parties from more than 7 EU countries are needed to set up a group, under European Parliament rules, with a minimum of 23 EU legislators required.
Other countries represented include Poland, Slovakia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Lithuania, France and Spain.
The group must now inform European Parliament President Roberta Metsola of its formation. It is then expected to be officially confirmed at a parliamentary sitting next week in Strasbourg, France.
The group's co-leaders are to be René Aust, a German EU legislator from the AfD, and Stanislaw Tyszka from the Polish Konfederacja.
Maximilian Krah, a scandal-ridden AFD politician, expelled from the party's delegation to the European Parliament for controversial statements about Germany's Nazi past, is not part of the group.
Krah welcomed the formation of the group however on X.
"I am delighted that the founding of the group in the European Parliament will implement a project that I have been working on for years."
"The importance of this project is much greater than my own role; I am therefore satisfied and without any resentment," he said.
--BERNAMA-dpa
