Vox leaves ECRthe Conservative Group in the European Parliament, and joins the “Patriots for Europe”the new group formed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. The Spanish far-right party he announces it in a note, in which among other things he “expresses his friendship to Giorgia Meloni”, president of the Conservative group, and “to Fdi”. “Giorgia Meloni will always be a partner, a friend and an ally of Vox”, reads the party’s note, which thanks the Polish party Pis, “which has been at the forefront of the struggle of patriots in Europe”.
The Vox leader, Santiago Abascalannounced the entry of his party into the ‘Patriots for Europe’, which brings together “a large part of the parties that are protagonists of the alternative to the consensus of the populars, the socialists and the far left in Brussels”. In the last European elections, the Spanish party doubled its seats, going from three to six.
Ecr remains the third group for now
The Ecr group in the European Parliament, without the six Vox MEPs who will move to the ‘Patriots’, remains at least for now the third largest group in the Chamber, at 78, two above Renew Europe, which has 76. We will then have to see how many members the newly formed ‘Patriots’ group will have, launched by Viktor Orban with Fidesz, Andrej Babis with Ano 2010 and the Slovakian Smer, which has already ‘magnetized’ the nationalists of Vox, who come from a large country, Spain. The placement of Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National will be crucial, because the leading party in France currently has 30 MEPs.
Fair play FdI: “We respect the choice, no disappointment”
“We remain the third group in the European Parliament. We respect Vox’s choice, but we don’t know how much it will benefit our Spanish friends…”. Asked by Adnkronos, Fratelli d’Italia sources in Brussels they comment on Vox’s move to Orban’s Patriots.
Giorgia Meloni’s party has greeted the Iberians’ decision with fair play: “There is no disappointment on our part”, the same sources point out. Vox’s, they explain, is a move “that matured in recent days. We had already been informed of this choice at the top level”. For Fdi, Vox’s new positioning on the European chessboard is linked to internal Spanish issues: “The membership of the Patriots arises above all from national dynamics, due to an increasingly difficult relationship with the Popular Party despite the two political forces governing together in some Regions. We do not know if this choice will benefit Vox: the only prospect they have to go to government in Spain is to ally with the Popular Party. After that, we respect their assessments”.
Meanwhile, Matteo Salvini’s League is rejoicing, welcoming the Spanish into the new European group: “The adhesion of the Spanish Vox is a very important signal. The front of change in Europe is growing, determined to say no to Von der Leyen and the socialists”, concludes Via Bellerio.
The co-president of the ECR group Nicola Procaccini, of Fratelli d’Italia, spoke about Abascal’s farewell to the Conservatives: “I greet my colleagues from Vox with whom we have shared five years of passionate political battles between Brussels and Strasbourg. With some of them – wrote Giorgia Meloni’s lieutenant in Brussels – a friendship has been born that goes beyond political aspects. Even if we belong to different parliamentary groups, I am sure that we will often find ourselves side by side during the next legislature”. The ECR, he added, “is a political force intent on changing the European Union, bringing it back to its origins: an alliance of Nations that do a few things together, but important things. We will follow this path without hesitation and without limiting ourselves to mere testimony”.
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