EU:The first far-right political group in the European Parliament, home to French politician Jean Marie Le Pen, was on the verge of collapse last night following a row between its Italian and Romanian MEPs.
Romanian MEPs in the Independence, Tradition and Sovereignty (ITS) group said last night they were leaving the group after Italian MEP Alessandra Mussolini described Romanians as habitual law breakers.
"Breaking the law became a way of life for Romanians. However, it is not about petty crimes, but horrifying crimes that gives one goose humps," Ms Mussolini, who is the grand daughter of the wartime fascist leader in Italy known as Il Duce, was quoted as saying this week.
She made the comments following the arrest of a member of the Roma community last week in Italy in connection with the savage murder of a woman. The murder unleashed a flood of anti-immigrant rhetoric directed against Romanians in Italy and prompted calls for deportations.
The withdrawal of the five Romanian MEPs would reduce the number of ITS members to 18, below a 20-member threshold required by the parliament for it to remain a group.
ITS, which is not even a year old, would lose a range of political and financial benefits such as speaking time, access to staff and places on overseas delegations if it folds.
President of the Great Romania party Corneliu Vadim Tudor released a statement chastising Ms Mussolini for insulting the Romanian people and announcing that its five MEPs would withdraw from the ITS group.
"The unconsciousness of this lady . . . leaving to understand that all the Romanians are living like delinquents and are making dreadful crimes, remind us on her grandfather, the fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, and of her uncle, Galeazzo Ciano, who caused serious wound in the history of our people," Mr Tudor said.
A spokesman for the president of the parliament, Hans Gert Poettering, said the group would not be dissolved unless each Romanian MEP wrote to the parliament to clarify that they wanted to leave the group.