The ESN political group does not face sanctions, and the only impact AfD MEPs would feel would be the lack of a political party to provide support in the upcoming EU elections or to coordinate policies with like-minded groups.
The ESN party and the ESN group were founded by Alternative for Germany after the 2024 EU elections, and include the Revival of Bulgaria, Reconquest of France (led by Éric Zemmour), Federation of Poland, SPD of the Czech Republic, Movement of Our Country of Hungary, Forum for Democracy of the Netherlands and the Slovak Republic. In 2026 it is planned to receive more than €2 million in grants from the European Parliament.
The agency – the Authority of European Political Parties and Foundations – said it had found evidence that “questioned the adherence” of the ESN party to EU values, the authority’s director, Pascal Schonard, wrote in a letter. The message was addressed to the Council of the EU – consisting of representatives of national governments — and was spotted by POLITICO.
The organization monitors whether political parties and foundations comply with the EU rules governing them. The rules require all parties to adhere to the Union’s core values - including “respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and human rights, including the rights of minorities” – as set out in Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union.
In his 300-page letter Schonard says there is “evidence” that ESN members are violating EU values. The evidence includes court rulings and screenshots and social media posts from MEPs and party MPs showing anti-immigration, anti-LGBT rhetoric, including calls for immigration and portraying homosexuality as pedophilia. One of the social media posts featured in the letter came from Tomasz Michał Grabarczyk, a national politician of the far-right Confederation/New Hope party in Poland, who. wrote this month: “Israel is not just a nation of criminals. Israelis are a nation of criminals.” New Hope retweeted the post.
Neither the Federation nor Grabarczyk responded to a request for comment.
