BRUSSELS (AP) 鈥 Far-right parties from 12 countries, including France鈥檚 好色tv Rally and Hungary鈥檚 ruling Fidesz, announced on Monday that they have joined together to form a new bloc in the European Parliament and plan to become a major political force.
The European Parliament moved perceptibly to the right following a month ago as many voters abandoned the business-friendly liberals and environmentalist Greens. Mainstream center-right and center-left groups still hold the majority though.
The new bloc, dubbed Patriots for Europe, is made up of 84 EU lawmakers and will be led by , the 28-year-old prot茅g茅 of Marine Le Pen. Kinga G谩l, from Hungarian Prime Minister Fidesz party, will be first vice president.
Right-wing parties from Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Latvia, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain are also involved. Forming a group brings parties more influence, money and the possibility of coveted posts on parliamentary committees.
Italy鈥檚 far-right League party has signed up, as has the Party for Freedom of . Spain鈥檚 far-right Vox party joined too after defecting from the nationalist European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) bloc of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Bardella said the Patriots 鈥渞epresent hope for the tens of millions of citizens in the European nations who value their identity, their sovereignty and their freedom.鈥 He vowed the group would work 鈥渢o retake our institutions and reorient policies to serve our nations and peoples.鈥
At a news conference, senior party officials laid out a vision of a group that opposes power being centralized in Brussels 鈥 home to the EU鈥檚 main institutions 鈥 or having 鈥渢o suffer the diktats of the European Commission,鈥 the EU鈥檚 powerful executive branch.
G谩l said voters want Europe鈥檚 borders better protected from migrants, and that citizens 鈥渁re in favor of European cooperation, but not of an EU that acts beyond its competences and punishes member states for carrying out their own policies.鈥
The Patriots for Europe claims to now be the third largest political group in the parliament, although Meloni鈥檚 ECR also has 84 seats in the 720-seat assembly. The conservative European People鈥檚 Party is the biggest, with 188 seats, followed by the Socialists and Democrats with 136.
The question remains as to whether mainstream parties will prevent the new group from taking up important posts by refusing to endorse its candidates. It鈥檚 a tactic they employed last time around against the 好色tv Rally when it was part of the far-right Identity and Democracy group.
In a possible sign of things to come, the liberal Renew group posted on X that these 鈥渁re 鈥榩atriots鈥 in name only. The far-right have rebranded. But their mission is the same, to destroy European values.鈥 Renew said 鈥淓urope鈥檚 future will be crafted, by us, from the political center!鈥
Bardella ally Jean-Paul Garraud branded the blocking tactics by mainstream parties as 鈥渢otally anti-democratic." He told reporters that the Patriots for Europe must be given the 鈥渘umber of posts that corresponds to the millions of voters that we represent.鈥
