Wilders, Le Pen anti-EU alliance crashes amidst racism allegations

PVV-leader Geert Wilders and Marine Le Pen called off their collective campaign for election to European Parliament last month, according to news magazine Vrij Nederland. The magazine's investigations also brought to light the fact that Andreas Mölzer of the Austrian FPÖ, another partner in Wilders' campaign, also stepped down after racist expressions. Wilders' 'fewer Moroccans' speech also played a role, the magazine writes this week. According to the magazines 'dozens of internal and foreign sources', the expected euro-sceptic alliance between Wilders and Le Pen together with the FPÖ, Vlaams Beland and Lega Nord is now off the table. The parties were planning to kick off their campaign after a WWI remembrance on Wednesday the 16th of April in Strasbourg, France, according to Vlaams Belang chairman Gerolf Annemans. Racist comments from the leaders of the various politicians in the alliance created hesitance to jump into the same boat. Mölzer of the FPÖ called the European Union a "negro conglomerate" in February, also making Third Reich comparisons causing the Swedish Democraten to threaten departure, and Mölzer to revoke his candidacy. A month later, Wilders came with his anti-Moroccan speeches. Vrij Nederland writes that Wilders had to cancel a visit to a Vlaams Belang congress for safety reasons. The magazine also writes that Wilders wanted to work with populist parties such as the UKIP in Britain and the Danish Folk Party back in 2011, but the PVV called this off last minute to avoid hard feelings. This, the magazine states, is the reason why Wilders was 'forced' to seek support from the Front National, Vlaams Belang and the FPÖ, even though the PVV-leader stated anti-semitism and neo-Naziism as reasons he avoided cooperation with these parties previously.