Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán is joining forces with former Czech PM Andrej Babis and Austrian conservative leader Herbert Kickl to launch a new right-wing group in the European Parliament, the trio announced in a press conference in Austria on Sunday.
"European people want three things: peace, order and development. And what they get from the current Brussels elite is war, migration and stagnation. It is our duty to enforce the will of the voters," Orbán stated in a video from Sunday's conference on X (formerly Twitter).
Under the name 'Patriots for Europe', the group is composed of an alliance of conservative and nationalist parties. Namely, Babis' liberal-conservative party ANO, Kickl's national-conservative party FPÖ, and Orbán's national-conservative party Fidesz.
Together, they promise to change politics in the EU and to focus on "peace, order and development," according to Orbán. Babis also reiterated the group's priorities, namely "defending national sovereignty, fighting 'illegal' migration and changing the Green Deal."
V Evropském parlamentu jsme vytvořili novou frakci Patrioti pro Evropu, která má tři hlavní priority. Obranu národní suverenity, boj s ilegální migrací a změnu Green Dealu. pic.twitter.com/xn1q8tRqoH
— Andrej Babiš (@AndrejBabis) June 30, 2024
Translation: In the European Parliament, we have created a new group 'Patriots for Europe', which has three main priorities. Defending national sovereignty, fighting 'illegal' migration and changing the Green Deal.
Just over a week ago, Babis announced that his party ANO would be leaving the liberal Renew Europe group, clarifying at the time that he had not yet decided which European political group the party would join instead.
A political group in the European Parliament needs 23 members to form. Moreover, at least one quarter of the Member States must be represented within the political group.
Babis' ANO and Kickl's FPÖ currently hold seven and six seats, respectively, in the European Parliament. Meanwhile, Orban's Fidesz, in alliance with the Christian party KDNP, holds 11 seats. They need at least four other Member States to be represented to officially form the group. Regardless, Orbán believes this new right-wing faction to "soon become the strongest right-wing group in European politics."
The announcement was made just a day before Hungary officially took over the EU Council's rotating presidency on Monday, with the slogan 'Make Europe Great Again'.
