The European Parliament delivered a strong majority in favor of launching a review targeting the far-right Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) political group on Tuesday (7 July), while France's nationalist figure Marine Le Pen was separately convicted of misusing EU funds.

MEPs in Strasbourg backed the call to examine whether ESN meets core European standards by 414 votes to 224 with 18 abstentions, prompted by statements seen as discriminatory toward minorities.

The ESN group, which includes lawmakers from Germany's Alternative for Germany (AfD), chanted "send them back" after last month's decision on the deportation rules, leading the Greens/EFA Group to introduce a motion charging the bloc with breaching European values.

The motion needed 180 signatures to advance, and more than 200 MEPs from left-leaning factions added their names. Passage requires only a simple majority.

"We only had one and a half weeks to collect signatures, we are facing a very broad majority," German co-president of the Greens Terry Reintke told reporters on Tuesday.

Support came from MEPs across the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) through to the Left, showing broad backing for the democratic step.

The decision will determine if an independent authority can check ESN's adherence to democratic principles, a process that might remove its funding, estimated by German Greens/EFA MEP Daniel Freund at roughly €2m for 2026.

"Those who incite hatred and violate European core values should not be rewarded with millions from taxpayers' money," Freund told EUobserver. "This vote is about accountability."

Nine representatives from ESN member parties face accusations over 26 instances of racist, homophobic, and antisemitic public comments.