Orbán and Le Pen form new far-right group ‘Patriots for Europe’

4 months ago 17

A new far-right group, the Patriots for Europe, was formed in the European Parliament on Monday (8 July) after swallowing their predecessor, Identity and Democracy (ID), and unifying enough lawmakers on the right and far-right side to become the third-largest group.

The intention to form a group of “patriotic and sovereigntist parties” – keen to boost the role of national governments and decrease that of Brussels – was made public on 30 June by Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán, the Austrian far-right FPÖ, and ANO, the erstwhile liberal party of former Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš.

The negotiations about the new group took about a week and were finalised on Monday, also marking the end of the ID group.

The new group, made of 13 national parties, aims to return more sovereignty to the EU states and push for stricter measures against illegal migration. In the manifesto signed by the three founding parties, it also spoke against the EU’s Green Deal, while on the matter of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it stated strong commitment to peace and dialogue.

The fact that Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National joined Orbán in this new group has sealed the fate of her own group, the ID. Her protégé and failed candidate for French prime minister, Jordan Bardella, was elected president of the Patriot group.

A rapid expansion

Last week multiple ID parties expressed their intention to join the Patriots, making it obvious that ID will probably not have enough national delegations to continue as a group in the European Parliament.

Initially, the Patriots for Europe declaration was signed by Orbán, whose own Fidesz party spent most of the last legislature as an independent after leaving the European People’s Party in 2021; Austria’s FPÖ, a former member of the ID group; and the Czech ANO, which quit the liberal Renew group on 21 June.

While the three parties alone fulfilled the requirement to gather more than 23 lawmakers to form a new group, they needed at least seven different national delegations to complete the picture.

Shortly after the announcement, the Portuguese Chega! declared their intention to work leave ID and work with the new formation.

On Friday, the Patriots were joined by Spain’s Vox, who switched from the hard-right ECR, and the far-right Dutch VVD of Geert Wilders (ID), followed by the Danish Peoples Party and Vlaams Belang from Belgium, both formerly members of the ID group as well.

Marine Le Pen and her Rassemblement national, the leading party in the ID group, waited until after the French general election ended on 7 July to announce their decision to follow suit.

The rebranding of the ID group, now under the shared leadership of Orbán and Le Pen, aims to convey the intention to rally far-right parties with government expertise or a serious potential to govern.

Some small parties, such as the newly founded Greek ultranationalist Voice of Reason, which is not represented in the Greek parliament, have also found its place in the new group.

The German far-right AfD, which was excluded by the ID group shortly before the EU elections, will not be part of this alliance. There is still a possibility that the party will try to form its own group at some point this week.

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]