On Monday, the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) declined the Italian opposition party's proposal of partnership citing deep-rooted incompatibilities. Earlier in the day, M5S announced its withdrawal from the Euroskeptic Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy parliamentary group (EFDD) led by UK Independence Party (UKIP) acting leader Nigel Farage.
"In the European Parliament there are no parties like us. With both above mentioned groups we have some views in common but also have some differences. For example, ALDE has different view on the euro and Brexit, however, we have a lot in common on the environmental issue. With UKIP on the contrary we disagree when it comes to the environmental program but have similarities in our vision of Europe. We also tried to merge with other groups, based on the common values, but it was not possible. I think we should work on putting together our own group, but of course it will take time," Paola Carinelli said.
"I think it's a good thing that we were able to showcase our commitment to stated values. The choice of the group has not been taken by a single person. All party members of the M5S were participating in the decision making process," the lawmaker pointed out.
The Five Star Movement was established in 2009 by Beppe Grillo, a comedian, and web-strategist Gianroberto Casaleggio. Grillo used his blog and social media to gather people for campaigning on local issues and field candidates for elections. He is a long-standing opponent of Italy's membership of the euro area and has called for a referendum on withdrawal from the single currency.
