Formation Plans for the AfD and the
Our Homeland 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 the AfD delegation,
Maximilian Krah sat as an independent MEP and his membership was rejected by Czech and Polish members due to his statements about the
SS and accusations of
corruption by pro-Russian forces. However, Krah left the European Parliament after the
2025 German federal election and was replaced by
Volker Schnurrbusch, who was added to the ESN. 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.
10th European Parliament (2024–present) 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 (Republic Movement) and
Stanislav Stoyanov (Revival) elected as deputy chairpersons. Republic Movement MEP
Milan Mazurek, who was previously excluded from the group, was admitted on 22 January 2025. In March 2025, it was reported that the Spanish
Se Acabó La Fiesta MEP
Alvise Pérez and Greek
Niki were in negotiations to join ESN. In February 2026, Italian MEP
Roberto Vannacci, having split from the
League and founded a new party,
National Future, joined ESN. == MEPs ==