Policies of Silvio Berlusconi period because during the Cold War Italy had the strongest communist party in western Europe. Vladimir Putin has many times expressed his appreciation for the respect shown by the Italian Prime Minister towards the leadership of the Russian Federation. Silvio Berlusconi is among the most vocal supporters of closer ties between Russia and the European Union. In an article published to Italian media on 26 May 2002, he said that the next step in Russia's growing integration with the West should be EU membership. On 17 November 2005 he commented in regards to the prospect of such a membership that
Political groups of the European Parliament January 2007, which lasted for nearly eleven months until it fell apart on 14 November 2007 due to in-fighting. A new radical right group was formed during the 8th parliament on 16 June 2015 under the name "Europe of Nations and Freedom". The school of political thought that states that the competences of the European Union should be reduced or prevented from expanding further, is represented in the European Parliament by the eurosceptics. The first Eurosceptic group in the European Parliament was founded on 19 July 1994. It was called the "European Nations Group" and it lasted until 10 November