Social media influencer and newly elected member of the European parliament Fidias Panayiotou is to hold an online poll to decide which European parliament group he will join.
In a video on social media platform TikTok, Panayiotou explained that he had planned to create his own group when he was elected, but that he had been unable to do so as most elected MEPs automatically joined pre-existing groups to which their parties belong.
In addition, he said, of the around 100 MEPs who did not automatically join European parliament groups, “I am the only one who is actually independent.
“All the others are members of political parties in their own countries, and to be honest, most of those parties don’t suit me and are a little weird,” he said.
For this reason, he said, it was impossible to find the minimum required number of 23 people to join him to create a new group.
He said that as a result, he will now hold an online poll to decide whether he will join a European parliament group or whether he will remain as an independent.
There are eight active groups in the European parliament, the largest of which is the centre-right European People’s Party. The two Cyprus MEPs from Disy Loukas Fourlas and Michalis Hadjipantela are in the EPP, with President Nikos Christodoulides also a part of the EPP’s larger family.
The second largest is the centre-left Socialists & Democrats group, of which Diko MEP Costas Mavrides is a member. Fellow Cypriot party Edek is also a member of the S&D’s wider European family, the Party of European Socialists, but lost their only European parliament seat in June’s elections.
The third and fourth largest groups are centrists Renew Europe and the environmentalist Greens/EFA group, both of which have no Cypriot MEPs. Cypriot party Dipa is aligned with Renew Europe, while the Green Party and Volt are aligned with the Greens/EFA group.
The far-right European Conservatives and Reformists’ group is the sixth largest group in the European parliament, with Elam MEP Geadis Geadi being a member.
Even further right is the seventh largest group, the Identity and Democracy group, which has no Cypriot members inside or outside the European parliament.
The smallest group is The Left, which has one Cypriot MEP, Akel’s Giorgos Georgiou.
