Nigel Farage, leader of the
United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), said Wednesday that
with 17 members of Italy's 5-Star Movement (M5S), he will form a
Euroskeptic group in the European Parliament.
M5S Leader Beppe Grillo called it "a great day for direct
democracy".
Rules require 25 MEPs from seven different nationalities
must be included to form a group within the European Parliament.
"We will be the voice of the people," said Farage, whose
group will include 24 British members of the European
Parliament, as well as members from Lithuania, France, Sweden,
the Czech Republic and Latvia.
In last month's elections for the European Parliament,
Euroskeptic parties tended to do very well in almost every
country except Italy, where Premier Matteo Renzi's centre-left
Democratic Party (PD) swept more than 40% of the vote.
That was almost twice as much as Grillo's M5S won.
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