Led by France’s Rassemblement National and Hungary’s Fidesz, representatives of thirteen national far-right and sovereignist right-wing political groupings formalised the creation of the ‘Patriots for Europe’ group in Brussels on Monday 8 July.
With 84 elected members, including 30 for the Rassemblement National and 11 for Fidesz, the second largest delegation, this brand new group, announced ten days ago by the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, will replace the ECR group in third place in the European Parliament.
On Friday 5 July, the European Conservative Group, dominated by Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia, saw the departure of the 6 Spanish MEPs from Vox (see EUROPE 13447/12), who opted to join the ‘Patriots’.
This new group, which will be chaired by the Frenchman Jordan Bardella, who was elected to the post on the same day but was detained in Paris, is made up of the following groups: the Rassemblement National (30 MEPs), Fidesz (11), the Italian La Lega (8), the Czech ANO (7), the Czech Oath and Motorists (2), the Austrian FPÖ (6), the Dutch PVV (6), the Spanish VOX (6), the Belgian Vlaams Belang (3), the Portuguese CHEGA (2), the Danish People’s Party (1), the Greek Voice of Reason (1) and the Latvian Latvia First (1).
At a joint press conference, the representatives of the ‘Patriots for Europe’ also said that they expected the group to expand further in the coming days, even though the German party AFD currently remains outside it.
Unsurprisingly, this new formation will focus mainly on the fight against the transfer of new powers to the EU and “federalist tendencies”, the fight against illegal immigration and the ‘Green Deal’, explained Frenchman Jean-Paul Garraud.
This new group will do everything in its power “to thwart the hegemonic will” of the Commission and the pro-European majority in the European Parliament.
Kinga Gál (Fidesz, Hungarian) believed it will be necessary to fight against “centralising decisions harmful to nation states”, defend Europe’s “Judaeo-Christian roots” and “firmly protect external borders”, while working towards a “strong and competitive” Europe.
The fight against “large numbers of unwelcome migrants” and against “green ideology” is also a priority for the Czech ANO party, explained its representative, Klára Dostálová.
On Ukraine, only Sebastiaan Stöteler, representing the Dutch PVV, spoke out in favour of continued support against Russia.
At this stage, the other groups have mainly praised the decisions of the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, to embark on a ‘peace mission’, notably by travelling to Moscow on 5 July and then to Beijing on 8 July (see EUROPE 13448/2). An essential job, in their view.
Cordon sanitaire maintained
While the new group hopes to make its voice heard and block projects in the European Parliament possibly by building bridges with the ECR family and Giorgia Meloni, it is likely to continue to suffer from the cordon sanitaire imposed on them by the other groups in the European Parliament for several legislatures.
“There is no reason for this to change”, said a source in a group supporting Ms von der Leyen, even though the formations making up the new group “have become more professional in comparison with 2019”.
A situation that the ‘Patriots for Europe’ were naturally quick to denounce on Monday 8 July. Jean-Paul Garraud believed that “it would seem problematic to me to still confront us with having an anti-democratic position; we represent millions of voters, how could they still maintain this cordon sanitaire against us?” “We demand posts that correspond to our millions of voters”.
The Spaniard Jorge Buxadé, for his part, attacked the press, which should, in his view, denounce this situation and help to ensure respect for political pluralism.
In any case, Mr Garraud predicted more difficult times ahead for Ms von der Leyen, particularly with a view to her re-election on 18 July. “She’s got plenty to worry about”, he told reporters.
Vice-presidencies. Kinga Gál was elected first vice-president on Monday. The other vice-presidents are Roberto Vannacci (La Lega, Italian), Klára Dostálová (ANO, Czech), Sebastiaan Stöteler (PVV, Dutch), António Tânger Corrêa (Chega, Portuguese), Hermann Tertsch (VOX, Spanish) and Harald Vilimsky (FPÖ, Austrian). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)