14. 07. 10. - 15:00

MEP to leave Martin's fraction

Austrian Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Angelika Werthmann has announced she will leave the parliamentary group of controversial MEP Hans-Peter Martin.

The politician from Salzburg said today (Weds) she had fallen out with the former journalist over various issues and the fraction’s social and healthcare system policies. Werthmann said she planned to become an independent MEP.

Former MEP Karin Resetarits broke with Martin’s "Liste Martin" five years ago to join the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE).

Werthmann’s departure slashes Martin’s fraction in the European Parliament (EP) in Strasbourg, France, to just two seats.

Martin garnered Europe-wide media attention by highlighting how fellow MEPs get the most out of the European bureaucratic system of privileges. He has been criticised for his methods including filming colleagues with hidden cameras.

Martin came third in last year’s elections for the EP. The co-author of 1996 bestseller "Die Globalisierungsfalle" (The Global Trap) – who fell out with the Austrian Social Democrats (SPÖ) after heading the party’s 1999 EP ballot list – won 17.9 per cent in the June 2009 vote.

Andreas Mölzer, a MEP of the right-wing Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) claimed earlier this year Martin clicked his heels in front of him and his colleague Franz Obermayr in a hallway of the EP before making the so-called Hitler salute.

Martin said: "I didn’t mean it that way. It was a ridiculous gesture. But (…) they [Mölzer and Obermayr] are right-wing extremists by international standards."

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