Europe of Sovereign Nations

Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN; L'Europe des Nations Souveraines; Europa Souveräner Nationen), also known as the Sovereigntists, is a far-right sovereigntist political group in the European Parliament, formed as the smallest group ahead of the 10th European Parliament. The largest delegation is the German Alternative for Germany (AfD). The group was founded on 10 July 2024.

Founding
Plans for the AfD to form a new political group called the Sovereignists became known shortly after the 2024 European Parliament elections. The AfD MEPs had been expelled from the Identity and Democracy (ID) Group shortly before the election due to reports of Nazi sympathising from the AfD leadership. The AfD delegation excluded the lead candidate Maximilian Krah and led a failed attempt to be reinstated in the ID Group. On 4 July 2024, Czech MEP Ivan David (SPD) announced the formation of a political group with the AfD. On July 8, 2024, the Patriots for Europe (PfE) parliamentary group was founded as the successor to the ID. Notably, the Czech SPD party, which previously belonged to the ID group, chose to not join PfE citing they did not want to be in the same group as those who “voted for the Green Deal and supported migration” in reference to Czech ANO party.

The German AfD and the Czech SPD are both former members of the ID Group. The French Reconquête split, with four out of its five MEPs joining the European Conservatives and Reformists after their expulsion from the party. Their one remaining MEP joined the Europe of Sovereign Nations Group. On 12 April 2024, the Bulgarian Revival organized the 'Sofia Declaration' with the Slovak Republic, Dutch Forum for Democracy, Hungarian Our Homeland Movement, Alternative for Sweden and the Agricultural Livestock Party of Greece. Czech Republic in First Place! also declared their interest in forming a "pacifist" and eurosceptic group to improve relations with Russia, along with parties like Republic. Other parties speculated to join such group include Spanish Se Acabó La Fiesta (SALF) and Greek Victory.

Due to his expulsion from AfD, Maximilian Krah sits as an independent MEP and his membership was rejected by Czech, Polish and French members due to his statements about the SS and accusations of corruption by pro-Russian forces. In June, SALF denied any connections to the AfD. The inclusion of the Romanian party S.O.S. Romania in the parliamentary group was also rejected by the AfD and Our Homeland, while the participation of Polish KKP MEP Grzegorz Braun and Slovak Republic MEP Milan Mazurek were also rejected by the AfD. The Ruch Narodowy MEPs, who had contested the elections together with Braun and the New Hope as Konfederacja, spoke out against joining a parliamentary group in which the German AfD was involved.

At the constituent meeting, René Aust (AfD) and Stanisław Tyszka (NN) were elected co-chairpersons of the parliamentary group, with Sarah Knafo (Reconquête), Milan Uhrík (Republika) and Stanislav Stoyanov (Revival) elected as deputy chairpersons.

MEPs


ESN is made up of eight members, which are as follows: