MEPs Gilbert Collard and Jérôme Rivière excluded from the National Rally group in the European Parliament

After joining Eric Zemmour for the presidential election, the MEPs from the National Rally (RN) Jérôme Rivière and Gilbert Collard were excluded from the Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament, where the RN sits. “The two elected officials had been suspended from the group by decision of the office” of the ID group, “they have just been excluded by a vote of the group”, said Tuesday, January 25 the MEP RN Philippe Olivier, close adviser to Marine Le Pen. The French presidential candidate had lambasted on Sunday “a drift of mercenary” and called on Jérôme Rivière and Gilbert Collard to give up their mandates as MEPs. The voters who elected them “voted for the ideas of the RN, not for the ideas of Eric Zemmour”, she argued.

These departures bring to 21, instead of 23, the number of RN MEPs in the European Parliament. The RN delegation within the ID group, which was led by jerome Rivière, will now be led by Hélène Laporte. “We do not accept it and we will very legitimately have the necessary procedures”, reacted Gilbert Collard to franceinfo.