Anti-euro German AfD joins Cameron's EU parliament group
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - British Prime Minister David Cameron faced new tension with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday after his group in the European Parliament voted to accept Germany's anti-euro AfD party into its political family.
The European Conservatives and Reformists, which Cameron formed in 2009 after withdrawing from the European People's Party, Europe's main centre-right group, voted in favour of letting Alternative fuer Deutschland into the bloc.
Voting figures were not immediately released but AfD leaders said in a statement they were admitted by a "clear majority" despite strong political pressure to block them.
"Welcome to the @AfD_Bund party which has joined the ECR Group this morning," the ECR announced on its Twitter feed.
"Our successful admission is a victory against those who put huge pressure on members of the (ECR) group because they wanted to prevent, for domestic political reasons, the AfD from being recognised and strengthened," AfD leader Bernd Lucke said.
With the addition of AfD's seven seats, the ECR will now have 62 seats in the European Parliament, making it the third largest group after the EPP and the Socialists, ahead of the pro-European centrist liberals.
It may gain a handful more if a small Bulgarian party joins.
But while the ECR has gained power and influence, Cameron's strength within it has declined and Thursday's decision leaves him in an uncomfortable position with Merkel, whose CDU party is the driving force within the rival EPP.
Cameron needs Merkel as an ally if he is to get a candidate acceptable to Britain as president of the European Commission and if his drive for a market-friendly, decentralising reform of the EU is to move ahead.
Although AfD is not opposed to the European Union, it has suggested weaker member should leave the single currency and it disagrees with Merkel's broader European policy. It also opposes a planned free-trade agreement between the EU and United States.
SECRET BALLOT
Officials within the ECR would not say how Cameron's 20 Conservatives - a minority of the 55 lawmakers eligible to vote - had cast their ballots. But one source said "a couple" had defied Cameron and supported the AfD.
Syed Kamall, leader of the British caucus within the ECR, told Reuters by email: "It was a secret ballot. But the prime minister made his views very clear to us. He asked me as leader of the British Conservatives to make it clear he wished the Conservative MEPs not to vote in favour of the AfD."
In a move to soften the blow, a source close to Cameron said the Conservative Party would work to reinforce ties with Merkel's Christian Democrats.
But Cameron faces a tough job explaining to Merkel what line the ECR will take on policy issues such as free trade and market liberalisation, and whether he can control a group that is at sharp odds with the main centre-right bloc.
As well as the AfD, the group has taken in the far-right, anti-immigrant Danish People's Party and the Finns, a nationalist Finnish party that has shaken up domestic politics.
Thursday's decision may also make it harder for Cameron to convince Merkel that Jean-Claude Juncker, the EPP's candidate to be European Commission president, is the wrong man for the job.
Merkel has stood behind Juncker while trying to accommodate Britain, while Cameron is trying openly to rally enough support to block the veteran former Luxembourg prime minister and EU dealmaker, whom he sees as an unacceptable European federalist.
The vote on admitting the AfD was meant to take place last week but was postponed, a sign that Cameron was uncomfortable with rocking the boat while he negotiated with Merkel over Juncker.
The fact that it went ahead on Thursday and was not delayed again suggests that negotiation effort may have failed.
Admission to the ECR confers international respectability on a party created little more than a year ago by a group of conservative professors opposed to bailing out troubled members of the euro zone. The AfD will get a share of the extra funds, staff and speaking time granted to political groups in the EU legislature.
In Berlin, a senior figure in Merkel's Christian Democrats played down the significance in an initial reaction.
"That a rival party joins another grouping in parliament is completely normal. This will have no negative consequences," said Gunther Krichbaum, chairman of the German parliament's European affairs committee.
However he added a warning to Cameron: "David Cameron would be well advised to put more emphasis on the advantages of EU membership for Great Britain."
(Additional reporting by Noah Barkin and Stephen Brown in Berlin and Andrew Osborn in London; editing by Luke Baker and Paul Taylor)