One by one, the EU Parliament's most drastic parties on the right flank have joined Viktor Orbán's new collection of "patriots".
Now the party group is the third largest – but likely without real influence.
The group leader will be the French National Rally's party leader Jordan Bardella, who can now focus on EU politics after the party's setback in the second French parliamentary election round on Sunday.
The French National Rally (RN) and the Italian Lega joined the European Patriots (PFE) on Monday.
"Let us unite our forces and fight together for a better future", writes the Hungarian government's international spokesman Zoltán Kovács on X.
Thus, PFE grows to become the third largest party group in the parliament (with at least 84 members), after the Christian Democratic Conservative EPP (188) and the Social Democratic S&D (136).
No Heavyweight Posts?
RN and Lega, like most member parties, previously belonged to the ID party group, which now disappears. Orbán's Hungarian ruling party Fidesz has, in turn, been among the unaffiliated since being forced out of EPP in 2021.
PFE's influence, however, risks being marginal – just like ID's. The heavyweight party groups in the center of the EU Parliament are strongly opposed to cooperating with the far-right. This has previously led to them cooperating to vote out ID candidates for example heavy committee posts.
Perhaps the creation of PFE will instead increase the chances of cooperation with the SD's somewhat more restrained party group ECR. The group is losing its position as third largest, as the Spanish Vox has moved over to PFE. On the other hand, ECR, dominated by Giorgia Meloni's ruling party Italian Brothers, can now hope to be seen as more respectable by the centrist parties.
Status with Orbán
The fact that the Hungarian ruling party Fidesz is part of PFE simultaneously gives the group extra status, as they can boast of having a prime minister in the group – something ID did not have.
In practice, however, the difference is small.
It's basically just a larger group with a new name, says a former ID MEP to the news site Politico Europe.
The Hungarian ruling party Fidesz has taken the initiative to form the party group European Patriots (Patriots for Europe in English, abbreviated PFE).
Clear members include, among others, the French National Rally, the Italian Lega, the Austrian FPÖ, the Dutch PVV, the Spanish Vox, and the Czech Ano. The Danish People's Party is the only Nordic member so far.
