Viktor Orbán’s nationalist group Patriots for Europe formed this Monday in the European Parliament with 84 MEPs, making it the third largest group in the chamber. The Spaniards of Vox fall into this group.
The new one far right alliancePatriots for Europe, has succeeded the previous far-right group in the European Parliament, Identity and Democracy (ID), which has since been dissolved.
The Patriots have expanded rapidly, with many parties announcing last week that they would join the project, culminating this morning with important additions with the French National Group (RN) and the Italian Lega, two former key ID parties that had not yet joined the group, which also includes Santiago Abascal’s party, VOX.
While Lega was dominant within ID in the previous term, the largest delegation within the Patriotas will be Marine Le Pen’s RN, with 30 MEPs. They are followed by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz, with 10 legislators, Matteo Salvini’s Italian Lega, with eight, and Andrej Babiš’s ANO, with seven.
A total of 84 MEPs
Other national delegations are the Austrian Liberal Party (FPÖ) and the Dutch nationalist PVV, each with six deputies. The group also includes three lawmakers from the Belgian Flemish nationalist party Vlaams Belang, two from the Portuguese Chega! and one from the Danish People’s Party, with a total of 84 MEPs.
The leader of RN, Jordan Bardellahas been named group presidenta position comparable to that of leader of ranks.
Although the Patriots group is only slightly larger than ID, which had 73 MEPs when it was formed in 2019its presence in Parliament is more pronounced due to the reduction in the total number of MEPs from 751 to 720.
With 84 MEPs, the Patriots have surpassed both the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR)who have 78 MEPs, like the Liberals of Renew Europewith 76 MEPs, achieving Orbán’s initial goal of becoming the third force in the European Parliament.
