06/30/2024 – 12:32
If successful, it will be the third bloc of right-wing radicals and populists in the European Parliament. “Patriots for Europe” brings together parties from Hungary, the Czech Republic and Austria. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced this Sunday (30/06) the creation of a new alliance of European right-wing populist parties – the third in the European Parliament.
Entitled “Patriots for Europe”, the group is formed by Orbán’s ultra-right party, Fidesz, the anti-immigration and national vote-winner Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) and the eurosceptic Alliance of Discontented Citizens (ANO), a group politician of former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis. Together, the three acronyms made up 24 of the 705 MEPs.
There are currently seven coalitions in the European Parliament, representing political parties from the 27 EU member states. The coalitions are organized supranationally, bringing together parties from different countries.
Some national parties, however, are not part of any of these benches – this is the case, for example, of the German Alternative for Germany (AfD), which was recently excluded from the ultra-right Identity and Democracy (ID) bench, after successive scandals that irritated others parties. The AfD was Germany’s second best-voted party in the European elections, with 15 MEPs.
Objective is to become “the largest right-wing group in Europe”
Speaking at a press conference in Austria, Orbán, who on Monday (01/07) assumes the rotating presidency of the EU Council for the next six months, said that Patriots for Europe wants to become the “largest group of right-wing forces in Europe”.
“A new era begins here. And the first, perhaps most decisive moment of this new era is the creation of a new European caucus that will change European politics,” Orbán said.
The Hungarian leader promised that the alliance would fight for “peace, security and development” rather than “war, migration and stagnation” generated by what he called the “Brussels elite”, and that the doors are open to anyone who wants to join to them.
To be recognized in the European Parliament as a de facto group, the new alliance will also need the support of parties from at least four other EU countries. In addition to the AfD, possible memberships could come from the Italian League (8 seats, today in the ID), the Dutch Freedom Party (6 seats, also in the ID), Chega de Portugal (2 seats, today in the ID), the Polish Konfederacija (6 chairs, no bench) and the Bulgarian Renaissance (3 chairs, no bench).
The trio did not respond to press questions, but the FPÖ said it would soon hold a new press conference to announce the membership of other parties.
Orbán’s Fidesz was until 2021 a member of the European People’s Party (EPP), center-right and the largest group in the European Parliament. The FPÖ, which was part of the ID, also abandoned the alliance to create Patriotas. ANO has already left Renovar a Europa.
More sovereignty, less powers for the EU
The founding manifesto of Patriots for Europe criticizes what it claims are plans for “a central European state” and promises to “prioritize sovereignty before federalism, freedom before impositions, and peace”.
“We want direct democracy to have more weight and be more important than European law. We want to streamline this EU administration. We want a much smaller European Parliament. And we want to bring back to our countries the responsibilities that are currently in Brussels.”
According to the trio, other priorities of the alliance should be the end of the European Green Deal and the fight against illegal immigration.
The EU recorded almost 53,300 illegal migrants arriving across borders in the first five months of 2024. If the pace is maintained, there would be almost 128,000 people in one year, a 53% drop compared to the 275,000 irregular arrivals in 2023.
Stronger or more fragmented?
Right-wing populist parties emerged strengthened in the last elections to the European Parliament, at the beginning of June.
Its performance, however, varied from country to country.
Nationalist acronyms surfed the electorate’s discontent with inflation, migration and the cost of the green transition.
So far, these parties have basically divided into two groups in the European Parliament. With the creation of a third bench, however, they hope to have more influence over the bloc’s decisions, but they may also end up more fragmented.
Far-right politicians such as Orbán and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have complained that they have been left out of negotiations to decide on the bloc’s top jobs – despite having gained more space in parliament.
ra (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters, ots)
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