Comments by the granddaughter of Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini have proved to be the final nail in the coffin of the far-right Identity, Tradition and Sovereignty (ITS) group in the European Parliament.
Alessandra Mussolini, an Italian member of the European Parliament (MEP), caused a storm last week when she described Romanians as “habitual lawbreakers” and called for the Romanian ambassador to Italy to be expelled. Her comments, reported in a Bucharest newspaper, led to five Romanian legislators leaving the ITS.
On Wednesday, Nov. 14, the MEPs from the Greater Romania party confirmed that they had quit, leaving the ITS with just 18 members, two less than the minimum needed for an official presence in the parliament.
“The Greater Romania party withdraws from the ITS group of the European Parliament as a sign of protest against the xenophobic attitude and the insults directed toward Romanian people by Ms. Alessandra Mussolini,” the Romanian statement to parliament read.
“The straw that broke the camel’s back,” said Romanian MEP and former ITS deputy chairman Eugen Mihaescu in a statement, was the “unacceptable amalgam” Mussolini made “between criminal gypsies and the entire Romanian population.”