{"id":375037,"date":"2024-07-02T16:11:53","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T14:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2024\/07\/02\/patrioti-per-leuropa-orban-parlamento-ue\/"},"modified":"2024-07-05T16:24:14","modified_gmt":"2024-07-05T14:24:14","slug":"orbans-patriots-for-europe-project-proceeds-apace-on-july-8-the-constituent-meeting-of-the-group","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2024\/07\/02\/orbans-patriots-for-europe-project-proceeds-apace-on-july-8-the-constituent-meeting-of-the-group\/","title":{"rendered":"Orb\u00e1n’s “Patriots for Europe” project proceeds apace. On July 8, the constituent meeting of the group"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – The gestation of the new “Patriots for Europe” group in the EU Parliament<\/strong> has begun after its conception in Vienna on Sunday (June 30) by Hungarian Prime Minister\u00a0Viktor Orb\u00e1n,<\/strong> the Czech ex-premier and leader of the populist liberal-conservative ANO 2011 party (formerly Renew Europe)\u00a0Andrej<\/strong> Babi\u0161<\/strong>, and the chairman of the Austrian Freedom Party (formerly Identity and Democracy)\u00a0Herbert Kickl<\/strong>. If all goes according to plan,\u00a0the new political formation in Brussels will see the light of day next Monday (July 8)<\/strong>, as anticipated by the same deus ex machina<\/em> of the sovereignist camp reorganized around the figure of Hungary’s father-master.<\/p>\n

\"Viktor<\/a>
From left: former Prime Minister of the Czech Republic and leader of ANO 2011, Andrej Babi\u0161, Austrian Freedom Party (FP\u00d6) chairman Herbert Kickl, and the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orb\u00e1n (June 30, 2024)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

“We will become a large parliamentary group faster than you might think now<\/strong>, 4-5 more days, and many will be surprised,” Orb\u00e1n announced during an\u00a0interview<\/a> in Magyar Nemzet<\/em> about the imminent constituent meeting of the new group<\/strong> with “all patriots who are passionate about their country and who care about Europe.” Explaining the deeper meaning of the political initiative<\/a> launched two days ago in Vienna, the Hungarian premier made it clear that “we do not want a European empire, we do not want the United States of Europe, we do not want a grey eminence controlled by Brussels, we want national sovereignty and independence under our national flags<\/strong>.” Actually, if one looks at who is supposed to join this new formation, it looks more like a rebranding<\/em> operation of the now defunct Identity and Democracy (ID) group, emptied from within with the exit of the six\u00a0Austrian MEPs from FP\u00d6 and the two\u00a0Portuguese from Chega<\/strong>, and the strong\u00a0interest of the Lega (which has eight elected members in Brussels) in participating.<\/p>\n

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\"Viktor<\/a>
From left: the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orb\u00e1n, and the Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of the Lega, Matteo Salvini (Feb. 4, 2020)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

“Soon the Italians will also join” (from the Lega)<\/strong>\u00a0are Orb\u00e1n’s anticipations about the members of his “pan-European group born in Central Europe, but which will then gather around itself the parties of Western Europe.” Statements confirmed not only by the Lega’s secretary Matteo Salvini<\/strong> (“We are at work”) but also by the outgoing president of the ID\u00a0group,\u00a0Marco Zanni<\/strong>, who, in an\u00a0interview with Il Corriere della Sera<\/em> called Patriots for Europe “the most interesting project for the alternative in Europe<\/strong>,” since “its catalyst is dissatisfaction with a system that does not work and does not change.” Zanni also pointed out that “the project is in continuity with everything Identity and Democracy has stood for in recent years and even before, when the group was called Europe of Nations<\/strong>\u00a0and of which Le Pen was a co-founder.”<\/p>\n

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\"francia<\/a>
Marine Le Pen, Rassemblement National (credits: Francois Lo Presti \/ Afp)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

Speaking of Marine Le Pen<\/strong>, the catalyzing figure of France’s far-right Rassemblement National<\/strong>, it is clear that the entire fragmented field of the European right<\/a> is waiting for the results of the second round of early elections in France<\/a> scheduled for Sunday (July 7) to launch ambitions\u2014often conflicting due to the nationalisms of national parties\u2014for the 10th term of the European Parliament: not only Patriots for Europe\u2014which has set the date of its constituent meeting for the aftermath of the French runoff\u2014but also\u00a0the ID\u00a0Group, which not surprisingly opted to postpone its constituent meeting from July 3 to the same date on July 8<\/strong>. In less than a week, it will be seen\u00a0whether, as very predictably, the 30 rising Rassemblement National MEPs will end the Identity and Democracy experience to join\u2014along with the Belgians of Vlaams Belang and the Dutch Party for Freedom\u2014the new “patriotic” project.<\/p>\n

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\"Hungary<\/a>
From left: Italy’s Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, the then Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, and Hungary’s Prime Minister, Viktor Orb\u00e1n (June 29, 2023)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n

No less than 23 MEPs from at least a quarter of the member states<\/strong> (seven) are needed to form a new parliamentary group. In this scenario of absorbing Identity and Democracy into Patriots for Europe, there would be,\u00a0for the time being, 74 MEPs from 10 countries<\/strong>. However,\u00a0other smaller parties could join, to overcome the liberals from Renew Europe (76) in fourth place<\/a>\u00a0among groups in the EU Parliament.\u00a0\u00a0The intentions of the Spaniards of Vox and the Poles of Law and Justice (PiS) are still to be assessed; they are both part of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group along with Giorgia Meloni<\/strong>‘s Fratelli d’Italia. The knot is expected to be untied tomorrow (July 3)<\/strong>, when, as part of ECR’s\u00a0“study days” in Brucoli (Syracuse),\u00a0the group’s constitutive meeting<\/strong>, already postponed since June 26 due to frictions between Italians and Poles over the distribution of posts, will be held.<\/p>\n

However,\u00a0 Germany’s radical right-wing Alternative f\u00fcr Deutschland\u00a0<\/strong>(AfD) is\u00a0expected to remain excluded. It emerged strengthened from the June 6-9 European election test but is still marginalized after expulsion from the ID\u00a0group<\/a> in May. After officially withdrawing even from the European party announced Sunday, no one has made any more openings to the 15 German MEPs within Orb\u00e1n<\/strong>‘s new group. On the contrary, Leghist Zanni ruled out the option: “Frankly, I don’t think this will happen<\/strong>, as far as we, the French but also Orb\u00e1n are concerned; I don’t think so.” That is why the new group “The Sovereignists” project<\/a>, which has stalled for the past week, regains strength: a formation led by AfD, which could be joined by a host of small and micro extremist parties excluded by Patriots for Europe: from the pro-Russian, anti-European Bulgarians of Vazrazhdane<\/strong> (Rebirth) to the Polish populist ultra-right of Konfederacja<\/strong>, to the Spanish populist movement Se Acab\u00f3 La Fiesta <\/strong>(The Party is Over), the Greek national-conservatives of Democratic Patriotic Movement – Victory<\/strong> (Nikh), the Romanian irredentists of SOS Romania<\/strong>,\u00a0<\/strong>the Hungarian Our Fatherland Movement<\/strong>, and the Slovak neo-fascists of\u00a0Republika<\/strong>.<\/p>\n