There’s a good reason Nigel Farage has been busy trying to form EU alliances. Whitewave
Parties from across the EU are in a scrabble to form political alliances after May’s European elections.
Such groups get increased EU funding, influential posts and speaking time in the chamber. Non-affiliated parties get much less exposure and cash.
A group must have at least 25 MEPs with “political affinity” from at least seven different countries.
Mr Farage has been shuttling to and from Brussels to meet putative allies. He led the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy (EFDD) group after the 2014 elections, entering into a pact with Italy’s anti-establishment Five Star Movement.
Between the two parties, they had more than enough MEPs to form a group and attracted a handful of politicians from five other countries to clear the threshold.
On Wednesday, Mr Farage ruled out joining Matteo Salvini and Marine Le Pen’s far-right and Eurosceptic Europe of Nations and Freedom group.
His focus is on reforming the EFDD, where he is, without question, the biggest fish in the pond.
Europhiles will pin their hopes on Eurosceptic parties being split between Mr Salvini and Mr Farage to such an extent that neither gets MEPs from enough different countries to form a group.
That is unlikely but it is another factor that Mr Farage must consider.
He is now at the head of 29 MEPs, making the Brexit Party the single largest party in the new parliament with Angela Merkel’s CDU-CSU.
Suitors would normally be banging on his door in Brussels begging to join forces but Brexit complicates matters. Once Britain leaves, so does its MEPs, which will weaken and could collapse the alliance.