EU Parliament - New home for the AfD? Orban announces far-right faction
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced a partnership with populist parties from Austria and the Czech Republic at the EU level to establish a new right-wing faction in the European Parliament. The grouping "Patriots for Europe" ("Patriots for Europe") between the Hungarian governing party Fidesz, the Austrian FPO, and the Czech ANO is expected to soon receive more members and become the "largest faction of right-wing forces in Europe," Orban said on Sunday in Vienna.
"The sky is our limit," Orban said, whose country will assume the EU Council Presidency on a rotating basis starting on Monday. For the formation of a faction, deputies from at least four other EU countries would be necessary. The new cooperation raises the question of how the recently excluded AfD from the right-wing European ID-Fraktion will relate to this alliance.
New Alliance: Fight against illegal migration and climate measures
"This alliance should be a launchpad," said Herbert Kickl, the chief of the right-wing Austrian FPO. The Czech chief of the liberal-populist ANO, former Premier Andrej Babis, declared that the new European Parliament faction would primarily focus on the defense of national sovereignty against the EU, the fight against illegal migration, and the withdrawal of the Green Deal's climate measures. The right-wing opposition party FPO, the liberal-populist ANO, and the right-populist Fidesz received the most votes in their respective EU elections in their countries. Fidesz will have eleven representatives in the new European Parliament, ANO seven, and the FPO six. Together, they will represent a total of 24 of the 705 members in the EU body.
While the Fidesz party, after its departure from the conservative European People's Party (EPP), had not belonged to any EU Parliamentary faction, the FPO had previously been part of the right-wing ID-Fraktion, alongside the Rassemblement National (RN) and the excluded AfD. Babis had recently announced the withdrawal of his party from the liberal European Renew Europe faction.
The European Parliament is set to see a new right-wing faction, titled "Patriots for Europe," formed by Hungary's Fidesz, Austria's FPO, and the Czech Republic's ANO. Viktor Orban, Hungary's Prime Minister, has stated that this group could become the "largest faction of right-wing forces in Europe." The new alliance, as per the Czech ANO's leader, Andrej Babis, will primarily focus on defending national sovereignty, fighting illegal migration, and opposing climate measures like the Green Deal. This development comes after Fidesz left the conservative European People's Party (EPP), and ANO withdrew from the liberal European Renew Europe faction, while the FPO was previously part of the right-wing ID-Fraktion.
