Orban has gathered enough support to form a new group in the EU Parliament

Less than a week following Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban created the Patriots for Europe alliance, parties from seven countries have joined.

Thus, the alliance can probably officially form a new group in the EU Parliament, where the requirement is that at least 23 parliamentarians from a quarter of the union’s 27 member states are involved.

Orban’s Fidesz party, the Austrian Freedom Party FPÖ and the populist ANO party in the Czech Republic were the first members of the alliance announced in late June.

During the week, the far-right parties Vox and Chega from Spain and Portugal respectively have said that they want to participate. With Saturday’s announcements from peers in Denmark and the Netherlands, it is therefore likely that the EU Parliament will get a new group on the far right.

Proud Wilders

Geert Wilders leads the right-wing nationalist Freedom Party (PVV), which also won the previous election in the Netherlands and is represented in the country’s new government.

– We are PVV patriots, we love our nation. Strong and supreme. Opponents of illegal immigration. We defend peace and freedom. And supports Ukraine. We protect our Judeo-Christian heritage. And our families, Wilders wrote on X on Friday evening.

– We want to join forces in the EU Parliament and are proud to join Patriots for Europe, still the Dutch.

In the elections in June, the party won six seats in the EU Parliament.

AfD on the fence

Patriots for Europe probably also hope to bring Germany’s far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), which was recently kicked out of the EU Parliament’s existing party group for the far right – Identity and Democracy. So far, the AfD has not joined Orban’s alliance.

But on Friday, the leader of AfD’s party group in the German National Assembly praised Orban’s “peace initiative” in Moscow.

The Hungarian Prime Minister visited both Ukraine and Russia this week, and Friday’s meeting with Vladimir Putin has caused anger in both Brussels, Kyiv and Washington.

– Foreign policy is national

Hungary currently holds the EU presidency, and Orban has said he sees the next six months as a peace project.

But according to the Danish People’s Party (DF), the decision to join Orban’s EU alliance is not an embrace of Hungary’s Ukraine policy.

– We have had it emphasized in the charter that foreign policy must be national, says Anders Vistesen, who is DF’s member of the EU Parliament.

– We recognize that there are national differences, and therefore Orban cannot – and must – not dictate Danish foreign policy. And we’re also not going to dictate the Hungarian one, he adds Denmark’s radio Saturday.

Possible French decision next week

The DF itself helped to found the strongly EU-critical group Identity and Democracy (ID) in the EU Parliament, which has, among other things, consisted of the National Assembly (RN) from France and the Lega from Italy.

It is unclear whether the RN, which won the first round of the election for a new national assembly in France, will join Orban’s alliance.

Financial Times wrote on Friday with reference to anonymous sources that RN is in talks with Patriots for Europe. An announcement from Marine Le Pen’s party is reportedly expected on Monday, the day following the second and decisive round of the French election.