‘Patriots for Europe’: Hungary’s Orban announces new alliance with European Parliament | European Union News

Austria’s far-right Freedom Party and the Czech populist party ANO, led by Andrej Babis, also join forces as Hungary assumes the EU presidency.

Austria’s far-right Freedom Party (FPO), Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s Fidesz and the Czech populist party ANO, led by Andrej Babis, are forming a new alliance in the European Parliament .

“We take responsibility for launching this new platform and new faction. I want to make it clear that this is our goal,” Orban told reporters at a joint press conference with FPO leader Herbert Kickl and ANO’s Babis, appealing for support from other parties.

The new alliance has been dubbed “Patriots for Europe” and will require the support of parties from at least four other countries to be recognized as an official group in the European Parliament – ​​where far-right groups have made gains.

Parties from at least a quarter of the European Union’s 27 member states are needed to officially form a new political group.

‘New Age’

“A new era begins here, and the first, perhaps decisive, moment of this new era is the creation of a new European political faction that will change European politics,” said Orbán.

The three men signed a “patriotic manifesto”, promising “peace, security and development” instead of the “war, migration and stagnation” brought by the “Brussels elite”, according to Orban.

Kickl’s FPO is part of the Identity and Democracy group, which also includes the French National Rally and the Italian League.

The centrist movement ANO, owned by billionaire former prime minister and eurosceptic Babis, announced last week that it was leaving Renew Europe. The three parties performed best in their respective countries during the EU elections earlier this month.

Although Fidesz has remained outside larger groups since splitting from the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) in 2021, the FPO is part of the Identity and Democracy political group along with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally party in France. ANO is not part of any political group.

The new alliance is taking shape as Hungary takes over the rotating six-month EU presidency from Monday. The bloc’s presidency brings little real power, but allows the countries that hold it to put their priorities at the top of the agenda.

In recent years, Hungary has increasingly blocked, altered or postponed a number of important EU decisions, including those relating to the war in Ukraine and relations with Russia and China.

He chose “Make Europe Great Again” as his motto for the presidency, alarming European politicians by his adherence to the slogan of former US President Donald Trump, whom Orbán once called a “good friend”.

Leaders in Brussels earlier this week launched accession talks with candidate countries Ukraine and Moldova amid Orbán’s repeated threats to block Ukraine’s bid.

Amid long-standing accusations of Orban of undermining democratic institutions, a European Parliament resolution in late May said the bloc’s presidency should be taken completely out of Hungary’s hands.

In this month’s European Parliament elections, nationalist parties capitalized on voter disquiet over rising prices, migration and the cost of the green transition, and sought to translate their seat gains into greater influence on EU politics.

Although the FPO has a clear lead in Austrian opinion polls ahead of parliamentary elections on September 29, Orban faces a growing threat in Hungary from the new opposition party Tisza, which said this month it would join the EPP in the European Parliament.