I was recently on a panel and asked about working with far-right politicians.
My rule of thumb has been not to recommend doing so.
I base it on four objective criteria and two personal reasons.
The objective criteria are:
First, when the far-right groups back an issue in the EP, it Is tantamount to ringing its political death knell. If you see your job as trying to get a winning coalition of interests to back your issue, working with those who ensure your issue is defeated would be strange.
Second, when they speak in debates in the Commitee, where the real work of the Parliament is done, they go off on weird tangents that confuse other MEPs. Maybe their interventions are just for Twitter consumption or drawn from horoscopes. But, it confuses many. There was an exception to this in the last EP from one French Doctor who sounded mainstream when she intervened and had mastered the rules of procedure.
Third, their mastery of the procedures appears, at best, limited. If you want to be a serious political group, you need your staff to be issue experts who have mastered the fundamentals and procedures. If not, fame on TikTok is all the beckons.
Fourth, it’s hard to know where they stand on the issues. Sometimes, their values seem more akin to those last openly discussed in Europe around 1933-45.
Fifth, my first personal reason, my Irish Catholic guilt, would go sky high.
Finally, my Grandad is one of the Royal Marine Commandos in this photo. He joined up in 1942 at 17. He mentioned some of the horrors of fascism in Yugoslavia and Italy. He’d never forgive me.
Many of the same points could be made about whether to engage with any extremist.