(BRUSSELS) - The extreme right faction in the European Parliament faced collapse Friday after the Greater Romania Party (PRM) said it would withdraw over an Italian deputy's "insults" against Romanians.

PRM said it was pulling out because of the "xenophobic attitude" of Italian war-time dictator Benito Mussolini's grand-daughter Alessandra, who had "insulted the Romanian people".

It said her "insults" came in comments about the expulsion of dozens of Romanians from Italy, after a Romanian gypsy was arrested last week over the murder of the wife of a high-ranking Italian naval officer.

PRM was a member of the "Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty," (ITS) faction which was formed at the European Parliament in January, giving the far-right access to official funds and certain speaking rights in the assembly.

"The Greater Romania party withdraws from the ITS group of the European Parliament as a sign of protest against the xenophobic attitude and the insults directed toward Romanian people by Ms Alessandra Mussolini," it said.

In a statement, PRM quoted Mussolini as saying in a Romanian newspaper on November 2: "Breaking the law has become a way of life for Romanians. However, it is not about petty crimes, but horrifying crimes, this one gives goose bumps."

The bloc was only made possible after Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU on January 1, and the PRM's five Romanian MEPs signed up, as well as one Bulgarian parliamentarian.

Assembly rules require at least 20 MEPs from five EU member states to form a group.

"With the exit of the five Romanian MEPs, who became independents again, the Identity-Tradition-Sovereignty group disappears," the party said.

French MEP Bruno Gollnisch, who leads the faction, said that he had tried without success to contact PRM's leader Corneliu Vadim Tudor, who has been accused of xenophobia and anti-Semitism.

"I am surprised that the party leadership has not contacted me," Gollnisch said, adding that if the ITS group did collapse, "there will only be losers, including the Romanian deputies."

Text and Picture Copyright 2007 AFP. All other Copyright 2007 EUbusiness Ltd. All rights reserved. This material is intended solely for personal use. Any other reproduction, publication or redistribution of this material without the written agreement of the copyright owner is strictly forbidden and any breach of copyright will be considered actionable.