Two Dutch MEPs from the Farmer–Citizen Movement (BoerBurgerBeweging — BBB) have joined the far-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group in the European Parliament after leaving the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP).
Sander Smit and Jessica van Leeuwen were formally admitted to ECR at a meeting of the group, the ECR Group announced on Wednesday.
ECR co-chair Nicola Procaccini (Brothers of Italy) said the group was “delighted” to welcome the two MEPs and described ECR as a “natural home for centre-right forces committed to reforming the European Union.”
BBB says it would not be “silenced” in EPP
BBB decided to leave the EPP group after two years because it does not allow its representatives “to be silenced in Parliament”, Henk Vermeer, the party’s parliamentary group leader in the Dutch Second Chamber, said.
Vermeer said BBB concluded the ECR offered the best basis for implementing its programme, adding that its position was “less Brussels, more room for farmers, fishermen, regions, and national sovereignty”.
Smit stated BBB had worked closely with EPP colleagues and intended to continue co-operating “across group boundaries”, adding the party would now do so from within the ECR.
With BBB’s two MEPs joining, the ECR now has 81 members in the European Parliament.
