Beppe Grillo
Italian opposition movement “Five stars” comes from a faction of British politics Nigel Farage’s “Europe of freedom and democracy”, uniting eurosceptics in the European Parliament (EP). This was reported in his blog, the founder and leader of the Italian party Beppe Grillo.
In a message to supporters, he wrote that the UK independence Party (UKIP) Farage, a member of the faction, after a referendum on Britain’s membership of the EU “achieved its political goal.” In this regard, Grillo suggested deputies of the movement “Five stars” go to the faction of the Alliance of liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), chaired by the former Belgian Prime Minister guy Verhofstadt.
According to The Local, many supporters accused the movement of “Five stars” in the rejection of euroscepticism, and in an effort to strengthen its position in the European Parliament, where only fractional parties have political weight and receive funding from Brussels.
According to Grillo, after the merger with ALDE their faction will be the “third largest” in the EP. Previously, he organized an Internet vote on whether to change factions. The idea of coalition with the liberal Democrats voted 78.5% of the respondents, that is more than 31.9 thousand people.
June 23, 2016 in the United Kingdom held a plebiscite on the question of withdrawal from the European Union. Winning with 51.9% of votes won by the supporters of Brexit.