Sort of a plebiscite indeed: ‘the web’ said 5 Stars Movement MEPs should be part of the EFD group led by Nigel Farage. 23,121 voters out of 29,584 participants to the online vote called for Farage when asked about the collocation of the party into the European Parliament. Very poor results for the other two options offered by the referendum – that excluded, among controversies, the Greens. The hypothesis of joining the ECR group received 2,930 votes, while the NI group option was more appreciated, with 3.533 votes.
No surprise at all, the result was quite obvious: the possibility of joining the Conservative was never mentioned, and the option of the NI group was seen as a ‘political suicide’ by the 5SM. Now, Grillo is committed in trying to create the group chosen by the majority of his supporters. “In case of impossibility of obtaining the desired solution,” explained the comedian in a blog post, “we will try to get the following one.” That is: were the possibilities of obtaining a group with Farage, the 5SM would be forced – given its ‘fidelity bond’ with ‘the web’ – to become part of the NI group, where the political action of MEPs would be insignificant.
“I’m extremely satisfied for the results,” said a very happy Farage – losing Grillo would have meant for him the impossibility of having his own group. “I can’t wait to work with the 5 Stars Movement to be the true voice of the opposition into the European Parliament.” The result, as underlined by the UKIP leader, “gives a lot of trust and will push other delegation to sign the adhesion to our group next week. It will help the creation of a big group.”