Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s fledgling political movement on Saturday attracted enough parties to achieve recognition from the European Parliament in a boost for his latest ploy to shift Brussels rightward.
The nationalist leader announced June 30 his intention to form a new EU parliamentary group called “Patriots for Europe,” vowing “a new era” that “will change European politics.”
He made the announcement with the Austrian far-right Freedom Party and the centrist Action of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) of former Czech prime minister Andrej Babis in Strasbourg. Since then, five more parties have said they would join. Those include the Party for Freedom led by Dutch anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders, Portugal’s far-right Chega party and Spain’s Vox party.
Photo: EPA-EFE / Alexey Maishev / Sputnik / Kremlin Pool
With the Danish People’s Party and the Flemish nationalist pro-independence Vlaams Belang on Saturday announcing that they would join, Patriots for Europe fulfilled the EU parliament’s threshold for formal recognition — 23 lawmakers from seven countries.
Orban said the parties would meet in Brussels today.
By that time, Orban would know if France’s National Rally has chosen to join forces with him after the second round of the country’s legislative elections yesterday.
If the National Rally decides to join Patriots for Europe, it would be the biggest political force within the group, with 30 lawmakers.
Italy’s League party, led by Matteo Salvini, has also expressed an interest in the new movement, but has not confirmed its participation.
Orban — whose country took over the EU’s rotating presidency this month — has long railed against the “Brussels elites.”
His Fidesz party has been non-aligned in the EU Parliament since it left the right-wing European People’s Party in 2021 amid accusations of Hungary’s democratic backsliding.
With the formation of Patriots for Europe, Orban is bidding to become the dominant hard-right force in the EU Parliament.
As well as campaigning for conservative family values, the group would push back against European support for Ukraine against Russia’s invasion and immigration.
Meanwhile, Orban on Saturday drew a fresh rebuke from EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell after he attended a meeting of the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) in Azerbaijan.
Brussels, EU allies, the US and Kyiv had already slammed Orban, for holding talks on the Ukraine war with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Friday.
“Hungary has not received any mandate from the EU Council to advance the relations with the Organisation of Turkic States,” Borrell said in a statement.
The EU also rejected OTS attempts to legitimize the unrecognised Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus by admitting it as an observer, Borrell said.
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