The Hungarian PM’s primary objective had been to unify the two Eurosceptic right-wing formations in the European Parliament, but with his new Patriots for Europe grouping he has ended up outmanoeuvring both.
Ever since the 2021 divorce of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party from its European Parliament grouping, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), Viktor Orban has been searching for a new political home in Europe for his party. That search ended on Monday with the launch of Patriots for Europe, a new grouping that will be the third largest force in the European Parliament with 84 lawmakers.
Orban’s primary objective had been to unify the two Eurosceptic right-wing formations in the EU’s parliament: the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and Identity and Democracy (ID). And the June 2024 European Parliament elections seemed to bring such an opportunity for Orban’s long-held dream of creating a unified far-right bloc.
Such a grouping “would be the largest parliamentary faction in Europe,” Orban boasted on Kossuth Radio on June 14. Yet it would require a coalition stretching from the ECR led by the pragmatic Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, to Marine Le Pen’s French National Rally (RN), to the radical-right parties of ID.
Meloni posed a particular challenge for Orban. Following the June 6-9 European elections, the ECR admitted into its ranks the Romanian nationalist party AUR, which has a strong anti-Hungarian stance.
“Fidesz will never share a group with such a party in the European Parliament. It is non-negotiable,” said Mate Kocsis, a leading MP in the Hungarian parliament.
His words were echoed by Orban’s spokesperson and the subsequent actions of Fidesz. The accession of AUR to the ECR led the party to dramatically shift away from joining Meloni’s hard-right group and trying to create a unified right-wing front. Instead, its focus became creating a new group, Patriots for Europe.
Calling all patriots
On the eve of Hungary assuming the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU from July 1, Orban announced the establishment of this new formation on June 30. The initiating committee included Orban, the former Czech prime minister and leader of ANO Andrej Babis, and Herbert Kickl of Austria’s FPO. Babis’s ANO left Renew Europe over its opposition to the reelection of Ursula von der Leyen as European Commission president and the policies of the European Green Deal. Kickl’s FPO left the ID group, signalling what was to come next.
At the press conference in Vienna, Orban spoke about the EU establishment pushing Europe into “war, migration, stagnation”, while Europeans only want “peace, order and development”.
Over the next few days, most members of ID decided to leave and join Orban’s new group. The last to join were Le Pen’s RN, on the evening of Sunday, just hours after the second round of voting in France’s parliamentary elections, and Italy’s Lega.
A particularly interesting move was Spain’s VOX party from the ECR. Its leader, Santiago Abascal, was diplomatic about the decision, stating that Patriots for Europe is the grouping that meets the demand for “a radical and urgent change of course” for the EU. However, he stressed relations remains cordial with Meloni and Poland’s Law and Justice (PiS). About Meloni, Abascal told La Gaceta that she will “always be a partner, friend and ally of VOX.” He also thanked PiS for being “at the vanguard of patriots’ struggles in Europe”.
On Monday, the group was formally established with 84 MEPs from 12 nations. The largest national delegations are the French (30 MEPs), followed by the Hungarians (11), the Czechs (9), the Dutch, and the Austrians and Spanish (6 MEPs each).
Jordan Bardella of RN was chosen as the group’s president, with Kinga Gal of Fidesz named first vice-president. Interestingly, Bardella was absent in Brussels on the day that Patriots for Europe’s new leaders were elected. In a statement, Bardella emphasised that the group “represents hope for tens of millions of citizens in European nations who value their identity, their sovereignty and their freedom. As patriotic forces, we are going to work together to reclaim our institutions and reorient policies to serve our nations and peoples.”
What it means for Europe
Orban has seemingly outmanoeuvred the Italian prime minister by establishing a grouping that is larger than her ECR. Snubbed by Meloni, Orban has also managed to repair some of the damage from his party’s poor showing at the EU elections, when it lost seats to Hungary’s newest political force, Tisza, led by the former Fidesz insider-turned-government critic, Peter Magyar.
Patriots for Europe is now the third-largest group in the new European Parliament, which begins its work on July 16. Yet bridges between the ECR and Patriots for Europe have not been entirely burnt, thanks to Spain’s VOX and Santiago Abascal.
The departure of VOX from the ECR is numerically significant, as it is now left with 77 MEPs. Over time, this could lead to more members defecting from the ECR to the new group, making it the central hub for Eurosceptic forces in the European Parliament.
Two notable absences are the far-right parties of Germany’s AfD, which was once a member of ID but left the group just ahead of the European elections, and Poland’s Confederation. Currently, the 15 MEPs of AfD remain unaffiliated in the next European Parliament, while the six MEPs of Confederation are expected to join forces with Patriots for Europe. The former Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki had speculated there was a 50-50 chance that the 20 MEPs of his PiS party could join the new group, but ultimately they decided to remain in the ECR.
The major dividing lines between the ECR and Patriots for Europe are the former’s respect for democratic values and being pro-US, pro-Ukrainian. For the political parties in Patriots for Europe, such matters are secondary.
Patriots for Europe will likely face a cordon sanitaire from left-wing parties and probably also from the EPP, but not from the ECR.
When asked where von der Leyen will seek support in the new European Parliament for her second term as EU Commission president, a senior EPP politician replied, “among democratic forces”. When asked whether the ECR is considered such a democratic force, he added, “yes”.
Meloni abstained when the European Council voted on von der Leyen’s candidacy; Viktor Orban voted against von der Leyen. This remains a key difference between the two groups.
