Kostadin Kostadinov from "Vazrazhdane" wants to forge a union of parties - so openly pro-Russian that none of the major right-wing parties in Europe officially wants to have anything to do with them, writes a German publication. Here's the more important thing.
Bulgarian right-wing extremists propose an "Alternative for Germany", writes the German website T-online in the headline and recalls that the "Vazrazhdane" conference held in Sofia in April had the task of forging a new union of European right-wing parties. The publication comments that the lofty motto “The New Leaders of Europe” has attracted representatives of small and microscopic parties from nine countries who flocked to the forum en masse.
The German right-wing populist party Alternative for Germany“ (AzG) was also among those invited, but then refused to send its representatives. After her expulsion from the far-right group “Identity and Democracy” (ID) in the European Parliament, however, which DV wrote about, the interest of German right-wing populists in such events has most likely grown, the publication points out.
"A truly conservative and independent parliamentary group"
The leader of the party "Revival" Kostadin Kostadinov reacted immediately to the exclusion of AzG from IS and wrote on the X platform that this was good news because it made it possible to create a new group in the European Parliament that would be truly conservative and fight against foreign influences.
This post of Kostadinov would hardly have been noticed by anyone outside of Bulgaria, if the scandalous representative of “Alternative for Germany” about the European elections, Maximilian Kra, who in the past expressed his admiration for the leader of “Vazrazhdane”, had not shared it, commented T-online.
The publication also tells about the subsequent development: Kostadinov spoke with representatives of the AzG, to whom he proposed to create a new common faction in the EP. It is further recalled that “Revival“ of Kostya Kopeikin, as Kostadinov is called in Bulgaria, was also part of the “Identity and Democracy” before being kicked out of there without further explanation. “Now Kostadinov is trying to forge a new alliance of parties that are so blatantly pro-Russian that none of the major right-wing parties in Europe wants to have anything to do with them,”, t-online points out.
Who is Rada Laikova?
A minimum of 23 MPs are needed to create a faction in the EP, and “Alternative for Germany” she can provide them herself, we read further in the publication. However, something else is also important for Kostadinov's people: with “Alternative for Germany” on their part, they can derive additional benefits in the national elections in Bulgaria, comments t-online.
The publication recalls the established links between the two nationalist formations, including Kostadinov's participation in the congress of the AzG in Magdeburg last summer, where from the rostrum he flattered the self-confidence of the German right-wing populists with the words: “It is high time for Germany to take its rightful place of great power, and this can only happen if IG rules.
Then on the stand next to him stood a woman who is the link between the “Alternative for Germany” and the Bulgarian right-wing extremists: Rada Laikova. She worked for the AzG faction in the Bundestag and is now a candidate for "Revival". for MEP. Laikova is also in the leadership of the structure of the Bulgarian party “Vazrazhdane” founded last year. in Berlin. Her dual role was also evident earlier this year, when she was included in the delegation of the “Alternative for Germany” about the celebrations on Mount Shipka on the occasion of Bulgaria's national holiday on March 3, we learn more from t-online. Photos from Mount Shipka show two MPs from the AzG next to Kostadin Kostadinov amidst a sea of Bulgarian and Russian flags, adds the publication.
Faction Chances?
However, the creation of a faction in the European Parliament requires more than just a certain number of deputies. The faction must necessarily include representatives of at least 7 countries. And the rest of the parties, invited by Kostadinov to the meeting in Sofia last month, do not have good chances for a good ranking in the upcoming European elections, as indicated by surveys of attitudes in their countries, t-online also writes.