Reuters reports that following a vote of its members, the European Conservatives and Reformists decided to accept Alternative für Deutschland, which won seven seats in the European Parliament elections last month, into its political family, boosting its influence.
The decision will make life difficult for Cameron, who needs Merkel's support if he is to get the reforms in Europe he wants. Merkel's CDU party belongs to the largest centre-right group in the parliament, the European People's Party, which Cameron withdrew from in 2009, and the AfD opposes her Europe policy.
As reported by the Financial Times (subscription), the German chancellor views the populist AfD as a political enemy and had urged Mr Cameron not to form a pact with the party in the newly elected European Parliament.
To compound Mr Cameron’s embarrassment, the AfD opposes proposals for an EU-US trade deal, which he says will help boost the global economy, and sees as a centrepiece of his efforts to reform the EU.
Mr Cameron formed the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament in 2009, after leading the Tories out of the mainstream centre-right European People’s Party (EPP). Ms Merkel was furious at the time. Her Christian Democrats are the main element of the EPP, which includes most big centre-right parties across Europe, and which supports European integration.
© Reuters
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