Madison will not swap European Parliament group or join ERK

Jaak Madison, who was elected to the European Parliament as an EKRE candidate but has since then left the party, said that he plans to stay in the Identity and Democracy (IC) group and will not be joining a new party in Estonia before the fall local elections.
While Madison admitted that the situation in the European Parliament has gotten more complicated with the addition of another group next to the two existing national-conservative factions, he plans to stick with Identity and Democracy for now.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced on Sunday that he intends to form a new parliamentary group in the European Parliament, called Patriots for Europe, with the participation of his party Fidesz, along with the leader of the Austrian Freedom Party, Herbert Kickl, and the party of former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, ANO.
Germany's AfD has also expressed interest in joining the new group after falling out with Marine Le Pen's French National Rally.
Madison said that he'll have to wait to see how many delegates and parties plan to move to the new group from ID and ECR.
In terms of why he prefers to stick with ID, Madison said: "So far, the conditions in the ID were very reasonable, where every country, including mine, had a complete veto on issues that did not suit us. We had a very equal distribution of speaking times and resources. Whether this will also be the case in the new group is entirely open; no one knows yet."
Supports Estonian Nationalists and Conservatives (ERK) but will not join
Commenting on his relationship with Estonian Nationalists and Conservatives, a soon-to-be-registered party made up of politicians kicked out or who have left the Conservative People's Party (EKRE), Madison said he supports them but has no plan to join at this time.
"I hope the new party will take off and can bring together people who were kicked out or have been forced to leave EKRE, as well as other conservative nationalists who have not found a political home yet in EKRE or Isamaa," the politician said.
Madison added that he will not join the party at this time because he would wish to actively contribute which would distract from his European Parliament duties.
He did not, however, rule out joining ERK in the future.
"It largely depends on plans for the 2025 local elections. /.../ It's a political decision of whether to run, where and how."
Madison pointed out that he came out on top in Järva Municipality, ahead of the Center Party candidate, at the last local elections, and that this time, he hopes to win by a wide margin.
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Editor: Mait Ots, Marcus Turovski