MRF at risk of expulsion from ALDE - Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

The Movement for Rights and Freedoms (MRF) is at risk of expulsion from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe - ALDE group, the party's Secretary General Didrik de Schaetzen told BNT on July 11.

The reason is a letter sent by several European liberal parties to ALDE demanding monitoring of Delyan Peevski. The motive - the fact that he is sanctioned for corruption by the US and the UK and the impact of this fact on the image of the group, which is the third largest in the European Parliament. The letter is signed by parties from Germany, Austria, Slovenia and Slovakia.

"We received a letter from our members yesterday expressing strong concern about Mr Peevski in particular. We have excellent cooperation with the MRF, this is a member of ours with whom we are very close, we really believe that the party defends liberal values, but in the case of Mr Peevski some of our members really have great concerns, which they addressed to me. I received the letter yesterday evening and it is something that should be referred to the Alliance Council. The Council is the body of the party that decides on matters relating to membership. It has to decide, but there is a risk that the problems with Mr Peevski's leadership could have serious consequences," Didrik de Schaetzen told BNT.

Didrik de Schaetzen described the letter as a first step in a possible process of expulsion of the MRF. A final decision on this has to be taken by the Alliance Council, but it is not yet clear when it will meet on the subject.

"For us the letter is very clear - our members have considerations for Mr Peevski. It is definitely not my job to decide who should be the leader. The problem is that these members of ours have an issue with Mr Peevski's leadership. We must analyse this letter as well as possible. My role is to move this letter forward, but not to decide who is the leader of the party. That is the responsibility of the MRF," said the ALDE Secretary General.

De Schaetzen himself also said that his role was to analyse the letter of the liberal parties, not to determine who should be the leader of the MRF.

Even if the MRF is excluded from ALDE, however, this does not mean that the movement's MEPs will be excluded from the "Renew Europe" political group in the European Parliament, as the rules for this are different.

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