Public voting records from the European Parliament reveal a striking alignment between France’s Rassemblement National (RN) and Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) on major policy dossiers, despite both parties sitting in separate political groups and publicly distancing themselves from one another following past controversies.
The Public Break and Political Realignment
The formal separation between the two far-right parties unfolded in May 2024. Maximilian Krah, then the lead candidate for the AfD in the European elections, drew sharp internal and external backlash when he remarked in an interview that members of the Nazi SS were not automatically criminals. Jordan Bardella, leading the RN list at the time, drew an immediate red line, declaring that his party would not sit alongside the AfD in the European Parliament.
Today, the legislative division remains formalized on paper. The RN anchors the Patriots for Europe group chaired by Bardella, while the AfD sits within the Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) grouping alongside figures like French Reconquête MEP Sarah Knafo, who has publicly defended the German party. Yet, despite sitting in different parliamentary blocs, public voting archives and tracking platforms like Europescope demonstrate that the two delegations frequently vote in lockstep across key legislative battles in Strasbourg.
Immigration and Climate Policies
On migration, immigration control, and border policy, the voting patterns of the two delegations show near-total convergence. In June, the 30 RN MEPs and 15 AfD lawmakers joined forces to back the Return Regulation, a central component of the EU Migration and Asylum Pact that underwent substantial revision by the European People’s Party (EPP), led notably by French lawmaker François-Xavier Bellamy. Bardella’s vote aligned directly with AfD members such as Markus Buchheit, Christine Anderson, and Arno Bausemer. Earlier, in April 2024, both parties also voted against updates to the Schengen Borders Code.
Environmental legislation faces identical resistance from both political formations. Parliamentary records show that both the RN and the AfD voted against the European Climate Law in July 2025 and rejected the framework for achieving climate neutrality in February 2026.
Foreign Policy, Russia, and the Rule of Law
Divergences narrow further when plenary sessions turn to foreign policy, particularly concerning Ukraine, Russia, and China. During the February 2026 plenary session, both parties rejected a proposal to implement enhanced cooperation regarding a €90 billion support loan for Ukraine through 2026 and 2027. They also voted down the European Commission’s 2025 report on Ukraine, following a March 2025 vote opposing a resolution confirming the EU’s unwavering support for Kyiv after three years of Russian aggression. While the RN abstained on that specific resolution, the AfD voted against it.
A shared stance on Moscow emerged clearly on December 17, 2025, when all present RN and AfD lawmakers voted against the gradual phase-out of Russian natural gas imports. Their posture toward Beijing follows a similar trajectory; in October 2024, the RN abstained on a vote addressing Chinese military provocations around Taiwan, while the AfD voted against it.
Rule of law mechanisms face the same joint opposition. On December 18, 2025, both parties voted against implementing the rule of law conditionality mechanism. Furthermore, when votes touched on European sovereignty—such as the creation of a digital euro—13 of the 15 AfD MEPs and 24 of the 30 RN MEPs voted against the measure.
Economic Divergences and Tactical Differences
The primary fracture between the two formations appears on economic matters, where the AfD maintains a more traditionally liberal market orientation that contrasts with the RN’s protectionist and sovereignist platform. A clear example occurred in December 2025, when AfD lawmakers voted in favor of the bilateral safeguard clause within the EU-Mercosur partnership agreement, while RN delegates voted against it.
European affairs analysts note that these differences are predominantly tactical rather than ideological. While the RN participates more frequently in institutional mechanics and allows routine administrative texts to pass, the AfD maintains an almost systematic opposition stance due to its relative parliamentary isolation. This dynamic allows figures such as François-Xavier Bellamy to state publicly that they would refuse to sit with the AfD while simultaneously observing instances where the RN’s legislative output mirrors that of the German party.
Worth a look
