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Le Pen candidate joins Farage’s new EFD group
![Nigel Farage now has the seven national delegations he needed to form a new EFD group in the European Parliament. [European Parliament]](https://jamescrispjournalist.files.wordpress.com/2014/11/far.jpg)
Nigel Farage now has the seven national delegations he needed to form a new EFD group in the European Parliament. [European Parliament]
Joelle Bergeron, 64, left the French far right party two days after this year’s elections. The party, led by Marine Le Pen, asked her to leave her seat in favour of another candidate. The widowed auctioneer joins the new Europe of Freedom and Democracy Group, which was formed tonight (18 June), as an independent.
The Eurosceptic group, which qualifies for EU funding and influential committee seats, now has 48 MEPs. As things stand at the time of writing, it is the smallest group in the Parliament.
Bergeron’s arrival and those of three other national delegations, including the Sweden Democrats, which was founded by a former member of the Waffen SS, meant the Eurosceptic EFD had the representatives from seven member states it needed to reform. Under EU rules, a group can be formed with at least 25 MEPs from seven different EU countries.
