Right-wing political leaders unite in Brussels: Le Pen, Salvini, and Wilders convene for alliance.
Marine Le Pen is poised to meet with other leaders of far-right political parties from across Europe, including Italy's Matteo Salvini and the Dutch right-wing populist Geert Wilders, as talks of a potential alliance continue. The gathering, which will take place in Brussels, is said to be behind closed doors.
Salvini, leader of Italy's Lega party, hopes to create a broad alignment of right-wing parties without the inclusion of socialists or eco-extremists. The ID faction has secured 58 seats in the European Parliament - nine more than before the elections.
The German far-right party, AfD, is not expected to be involved in the discussions. The ID faction had previously excluded the AfD for making light of the Waffen-SS, a controversial World War II military unit. However, Le Pen had previously distanced herself from the AfD, following a secret meeting in Potsdam about repatriation.
Despite this, the AfD achieved their best ever result in a European election with 15.9% of the votes. In an attempt to mend ties with the ID faction, Krah, the lead candidate for the AfD, was expelled from the party delegation. It remains to be seen whether there will be any reconciliation between the two parties.
For a wider far-right alliance, Le Pen and Salvini may need to team up with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) faction, which encompasses the Brothers of Italy of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Like Le Pen's Rassemblement National (RN) and the Brothers of Italy, both parties triumphed in the European elections.
The European People's Party (EPP) remains the strongest faction in the newly elected EU Parliament, with the CDU and CSU securing 186 seats, plus ten. Von der Leyen, the party's nominee for President of the European Commission, has ruled out cooperation with "Putin allies" and those who threaten the rule of law.
She has, however, not ruled out working with Meloni. After the election, von der Leyen announced planned talks with the Social Democrats and Liberals. If successful, von der Leyen is hoping for another term as head of the European Commission, but this would require the support of EU heads of state and government, and a majority vote from the European Parliamentarians, which is far from guaranteed.
