The initiative of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and the leader of the far-right Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), Herbert Kickl, to establish a new group in the European Parliament, announced on June 30, attracted the interest of several far-right parties across the EU.
Sunday, the extremist AfD expressed its interest in the new group. Today, Chega in Portugal will decide to leave the Identity and Democracy (ID) group and join Orbán’s Patriots for Europe. Also, MEP Jaak Madison, former vice-chairman of the Estonian Conservative People’s Party (EKRE), who initially said he was evaluating other options, decided to remain in the ID group. Still, he also expressed interest in The Patriots. The Spanish Vox, an ECR member and a close ally of Chega, may also decide to join. The Patriots for Europe currently has 24 MEPs from the three founding parties and needs more parties, at least from four countries, to formalise the group.
On the day the Patriots were established, Matteo Salvini, leader of the League party and minor partner of Giorgia Meloni‘s government, also expressed his joy, paving the way for his party, an ID member, to join the new group.
“For years, the League has been working to involve the greatest number of parties that aim to build a different EU, without the leftists who have destroyed Europe in recent years and are unavailable to support Ursula Von der Leyen,” Salvini posted on X on June 30.
“We want to widen the perimeter of a strong, patriotic, cohesive group against mess-ups as much as possible. We highly evaluate the words of leaders such as Herbert Kickl, @PM_ViktorOrban and @AndrejBabis, who said they were available today,” emphasised Salvini, whose party is declining in Italy.
While an official announcement is still lacking, Salvini told an interviewer, “This is the right path,” suggesting he is ready to leave Marine Le Pen’s Identity and Democracy group in the European Union Parliament.
Interviewed by L’Italia in diretta on Rai Radio1 on July 1, he stressed that the new group offer a way to unite those who put “work, family, security, the future of young people at the centre and not finance, bureaucracy and austerity”.
Salvini also said his party is evaluating all the documents produced by the Patriots. Mimicking Orbán’s pompous declarations, he noted that Patriots represent the right path to create a large group that aspires to be the third in the European Parliament.
Will the Patriots absorb the ID group?
The fact that the FPÖ, an old and prominent member of the ID group, is among the new group’s founders initially allowed speculations about a split inside the ID. The AfD’s expression of interest in the Patriots also supports such a perspective.
However, the positive stance of two other ID parties, mainly League and André Ventura‘s Chega, suggests a further merger between ID, Orbán, and Babiš is on the way. If so, no new group will emerge; instead, the renaming and enlargement of the ID will occur.
In a rare act for Portuguese political culture, the PSD (an EPP member) and the Socialist Party (PS) reached an agreement last March that isolated Chega. Consequently, the far-right party, which obtained 18.1% in the March 10 general elections, dropped to 9.8%, winning only two seats.
The ID bureau will meet on July 8 to decide the group’s future. Thus, on Monday, we’ll know what the rest of the ID parties will do.
It is also interesting and crucial for the future developments in the far-right camp to see Marine Le Pen‘s decision about which group the 30 MEPs of her party, National Rally, will join.
Waiting for Vox’s decision
The Spanish far-right Vox is a member of the ECR group. However, it is a close ally of Chega – the two parties’ leaders supported each other during legislative and the European elections – and has excellent relations with Le Pen. Santiago Abascal, its leader, doesn’t hide its admiration for the French politician.
Last May, Le Pen was among the speakers at the Europa Viva 24 event, a gathering of far-right parties organised by the Spanish party. Attendees applauded the French leader. It is worth noting that, despite the event being an ECR initiative, it was Le Pen and not Melloni, the ECR leader, who had the most privileged reception. Moreover, Meloni didn’t attend the event but delivered her intervention online.
Abascal has also had relations with Orbán since their meeting in Budapest in November 2021. The two discussed their shared vision of Europe’s future and views about national sovereignty, families, and immigration. They also discussed the future cooperation of their parties and joint action against “globalists.”
In addition, Vox is far more radical than many ECR parties and didn’t appreciate Meloni’s abstention during the vote to re-elect Ursula von der Leyen as President of the European Commission.
Thus, Vox’s possible defection from the ECR to the Patriots of Orbán could be a matter of time.
