Italy's 5-Star breaks ties with UKIP in EU parliament

Italy's anti-establishment 5-Star Movement has voted to cut its ties with the anti-EU UK Independence Party (UKIP) and to hook up instead with the Liberals in the European Parliament.
The move prompted UKIP's former leader Nigel Farage to say 5-Star and its founder Beppe Grillo had sold out and, by teaming up with the "euro-fanatic" Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), had "joined the EU establishment".
Grillo had made the surprise proposal yesterday, saying UKIP had achieved its political goal when Britain voted last year to leave the EU, and maintaining the alliance in the Europe of Freedom and Direct Democracy group now made no sense for 5-Star.

Following its credo of direct democracy, it held an online vote of its members in which 78.5 per cent backed his proposal.
Grillo published a letter on his blog, 5-Star's main mouthpiece, expressing his "affection and esteem" for Farage but saying their path had now divided.
If ALDE accepts 5-Star in its ranks, the switch would see the Italian group enter mainstream politics and move away from the anti-system fringes, a shift that might reassure other EU capitals that have grown uneasy about its rising...