Vistisen exclusively tells Euronews there is “no more political divide” between Meloni and Le Pen’s political factions than there is within other mainstream political groups.
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00:00The European Parliament's two hard-right groups could join to form a bloc.
00:07That's the prediction of Anders Vistersen, who's been fronting the far-right group of
00:12parties' campaign ahead of the European elections.
00:16Speaking with Euronews, Vistersen said that there is no real political divide between
00:21his Identity and Democracy party, which includes Marine Le Pen's Rassemblement Nationale,
00:27and the less hard-line European Conservatives and Reformists, which includes Giorgia Meloni's
00:32Fratelli d'Italia.
00:35There is no more political divide between the ID and the ECR than what you can see within
00:39the EPP, the SND or the Renew parties, for instance.
00:43So could you see those two right-wing groups reorganising themselves, particularly after
00:47the elections? Could you see a possible unification of those two groups?
00:51Yeah, I think you'll see that someday. You already have it in the Council of Europe,
00:55that the two groups have merged together in a dual party. I think maybe not just after
01:01this election, but I think the French presidential elections that are coming up in a couple of
01:06years could be a point in time that is very interesting to look forward to.
01:11Vistersen spoke hours before a crisis erupted within his party. Marine Le Pen's team said
01:17their party would no longer sit with Germany's AfD over damning comments made by their lead
01:23election candidate Maximilian Krah, claiming Nazi SS members were not all criminals.
01:29Krah has since been banned from campaigning.
01:32Another AfD candidate is facing allegations he was paid by Russia to spread pro-Kremlin
01:37propaganda. Vistersen himself was interviewed earlier this year by Voice of Europe, the
01:43news company now sanctioned by the EU, suspected of being at the heart of the Russian influence
01:48operation.
01:50You gave a one-on-one interview to Voice of Europe earlier this year. Were you paid for
01:56that interview?
01:57No, of course not. That interview was set up at the same premise as this interview.
02:01I was asked to give an interview and I applied. That's my job as a politician. But it is
02:08worrisome that this outside influence is also generally used to spread misinformation about
02:15the right. I have an impeccable record when it comes to being firm on Russia, firm on
02:21China.
02:22But despite these multiple scandals, Vistersen's European party is surging in the polls and
02:27could compete to become the parliament's third biggest force. The other right-wing group,
02:32the ECR, has consistently rejected a potential merger. You can watch the full interview on
02:38Euronews' Global Conversation.