Viktor Orban announces plans to create Right-wing EU alliance

Viktor Orban has opposed weapons shipments to Ukraine and has called for peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow - TOBIAS STEINMAURER

Viktor Orban has announced plans for a new hard-Right bloc in the European Union’s parliament that will oppose aid to Ukraine.

The Hungarian prime minister will be joined by poll-topping allies from the Czech Republic and Austria in an attempt to form the new Patriots for Europe.

“Historians will decide in a few years’ time how important this day was – we think this is the day when European policy begins to change,” Mr Orban said at a press conference over the weekend.

“The Brussels elite is resisting. They do not accept the decision of the European [voters]. They don’t want to change, they want to hold on to the status quo. That is unacceptable. That is why this current joint group and platform is being created.”

The announcement comes amid a wave of support for populist, nationalist and Eurosceptic parties in last month’s EU-wide elections, in which they topped the polls in seven countries.

In the wake of those results, Mr Orban, the EU’s longest-serving prime minister, hopes to unite Europe’s Right-wing after decades of fragmentation between its parties.

His Fidesz party have been without a political home in the European Parliament since being ousted from the centre-Right European People’s Party in a row over Budapest’s alleged democratic deterioration.

However, alongside Austria’s Freedom Party and the Czech Republic’s ANO, they already have enough MEPs to form an independent political bloc, entitling them to funding and speaking slots.

Mr Orban with Andrej Babis, leader of Czech Republic's ANO party and former Czech prime minister (L) and Herbert Kickl, the leader of Austria's Freedom Party - TOBIAS STEINMAURER

Herbert Kickl, the leader of the Freedom Party, said the new movement would act as a “carrier rocket” for radical change in Brussels.

“We are here together because we are united by three main priorities that will define our policies in the EU. The defence of sovereignty, the fight against illegal migration and the revision of the Green Deal,” Andrej Babis, the leader of ANO, added.

Negotiations over the formation of the parliament’s groupings have entered into their final days.

The Patriots for Europe already have more than the 23 required MEPs to form their own group, but must find candidates from four more countries before it can be officially accepted.

“From this starting signal, all political forces who wish to do so and who want to join in our political and positive reform efforts are very welcome. And from what I have heard in the last few days, there will be more of them,” Mr Kickl said.

But with a track record of disputes over policies and standards, it might not be a simple task to find more hard-right parties to join the fold.

Marine Le Pen, whose National Rally won both the European parliamentary vote and the first round of a snap election in France, could join Mr Orban’s group, according to a report by Italy’s Domani newspaper.

Italy’s League, led by Matteo Salvini, had signed a pact with his French counterpart to leave the current far-Right Identity and Democracy group for the new outfit, the report added.

Marine Le Pen's National Rally trounced left and centrist parties in the first round of the French election - Yves Herman

Another powerful member could be Germany’s AfD, which topped the polls with 14 seats in the EU elections.

However, Hungary’s Fidesz is opposed to allowing the German party to join the new right-wing power bloc.

AfD’s inclusion would also likely result in Ms Le Pen refusing to join after she recently helped expel them from Identity and Democracy after its leading candidate said not all Nazi SS soldiers were criminals. The Freedom Party opposed the move.

European support for Ukraine will likely become a dividing line in the final-hour discussions to find new candidates for Mr Orban’s group.

The Hungarian leader is considered Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the EU, has opposed weapons shipments to Ukraine and has called for peace talks between Kyiv and Moscow.

Mr Kickl, whose Freedom party has a history of close ties with the Russian president, made numerous references to “peace” with Russia when announcing the planned political bloc.

This approach could alienate the 20 MEPs of Poland’s Law and Justice, which has been resolute in its backing for Kyiv since the full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, which leads the rival European Conservatives and Reformist group, has maintained staunch support for Ukraine and refused to appease Putin.

If Mr Orban can convince the Polish MEPs to join, alongside colleagues from National Rally, League and AfD, it would make his Patriots for Europe the strongest right-wing bloc in the EU Parliament, ahead of Ms Meloni’s group.

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