
A new EU right-wing political movement announced by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Vienna a week ago is expected to formally come into being on Monday.
Orbán, who is currently in China on a self-described “peace mission 3.0” to end the war in Ukraine following surprise trips to Kyiv and Moscow, announced the creation of Patriots for Europe in Vienna on June 30.
The movement aims to become the largest right-wing faction in the European Parliament following EU-wide elections a month ago. To qualify as a group, 23 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are required.
Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ) and the Czech Republic’s ANO were the founding members of Patriots for Europe, along with Orbán’s own Fidesz. In the week since, the Netherlands’ Party for Freedom, Portugal’s Chega, and Spain’s Vox have joined. The Danish People’s Party and Belgium’s Vlaams Belang signed up over the weekend, providing enough parties to achieve formal recognition in the EU Parliament.
The news comes a day after France’s far-right National Rally party missed out on an expected majority in the second round of the country’s parliamentary elections.
The party, which was hoping to form the next French government, became the latest recruit to the alliance on Monday, following closely behind Italy’s Lega, according to Hungarian government spokeswoman Eszter Vitályos.