Two anti-establishment Spanish MEPs join right-wing ECR group

The right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament on Wednesday welcomed two new members, Diego Solier Fernández and Nora Junco García, from Spain’s anti-establishment party The Party is Over (SALF).   

The two MEPs requested to join in July this year along with their leader, the controversial YouTuber Luis Pérez, better known as ‘Alvise’, who has not yet been approved or rejected by the group led by Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia.     

The failure to admit Pérez may be due to an ongoing legal investigation for alleged illegal funding of SALF ahead of June’s European elections, after Spanish Supreme Court prosecutors uncovered evidence of a €100,000 cash transfer.

Pérez has admitted through Telegram that he received the sum “as a freelancer without an invoice”, but as the investigation is ongoing, the ECR’s decision to accept him is on hold. The issue could be discussed further at a meeting of the group’s bureau at the end of January 2025, but this will be a “purely bureaucratic procedure”, Pérez told Euronews.

As of now, his two colleagues, MEPs Nora Junco and Diego Solier have left the Non-attached Group in the European Parliament with immediate effect to join the fourth-largest group as individual members, while Alvise will remain in the group of MEPs without a political group for the moment.

Members of the same national political party can sit in different groups in Parliament. The left-wing Spanish party Sumar currently has members in both The Left and The Greens/EFA, and the 5 Star Movement has experienced the same situation in the past.

The new ECR members bring the group’s total to 80, well behind the 87 of the far-right Patriots for Europe, and closely followed by the EU Liberals, who have 78 MEPs.

“Their arrival strengthens the ECR Group’s commitment to economic freedom, sovereignty, lean government and good governance,” the ECR statement also said.

Among the criteria for joining the ECR group in the Parliament are the principles enshrined in the so-called Prague Declaration, which includes opposition to EU federalism, the importance of the family as the bedrock of society, and effectively controlled immigration.

Before joining the Orbán-led Patriots for Europe group, Spain’s far-right Vox party was a member of the ECR group.

This story has been updated to include Pérez comments.