Thanks for the link.

You seem to be implying that the MER/"European Conservatives" group will hit viability and last - any guesses at which parties it will get beyond the Conservatives, ODS and PiS? I don't know what's the worse prospect - going with the Kaczyński twins or them not even being halfway to the target!

The rules requiring MEPs from at least 6/7 member states have been used by the leadership to dismiss demands from grassroots members to do this sooner (alongside the agreement with the ODS and threats from some MEPs to remain sitting with the EPP). There's a big sense of the leadership just going through the motions (look at how after the extra-parliamentary MER apparatus was launched it soon went dormant) in order to get through the Euro elections (and potentially the general election which was originally expected around this time) without key activists drifting over to UKIP or have the European delegation openly split. I'm not sure just what the fall-back plans are.