Marine Le Pen's National Rally formed an alliance with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's political group in the European Parliament on Monday, establishing a new far-right faction. This move came just one day after Le Pen's party experienced an unexpected setback in French legislative elections.
Jordan Bardella, the 28-year-old leader of Marine Le Pen's National Rally (RN) party, will head the newly formed Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, as announced by French MEP Jean-Paul Garraud at the group's Brussels launch.
The new faction, comprising 84 members from 12 countries with the RN contributing the largest share of 30 MEPs, now surpasses Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's far-right bloc to become the third-largest group in the European Parliament.
Kinga Gal, a member of Viktor Orban's Fidesz party and the group's first vice-president, outlined their objectives to the press: "We aim to reshape EU policymaking, preserve Europe's Indo-Christian heritage, strengthen external border protection, and promote a robust, competitive Europe."
The founding of the Patriots for Europe was announced at a press conference in Vienna in late June 2024 by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (Fidesz), former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš (ANO 2011), and former Austrian Minister of the Interior Herbert Kickl and MEP Harald Vilimsky (both Freedom Party of Austria).
The group includes almost all the former members of the Identity and Democracy group. The group could also coordinate the works of its members at the European Council.
The group is now the parliament's third-largest bloc, after the conservative European People's Party (EPP) of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and the Socialists & Democrats.
Its launch came a day after French voters relegated the anti-immigration National Rally (RN) to third spot in legislative elections, despite surveys and a first-round vote suggesting it was on track to come first.
Bardella, who sits in the EU parliament, had vowed late Sunday that the party's lawmakers would "play fully their role in a big group that will weigh on the balance of power in Europe".
The RN has had past financial and ideological ties with Russia, to which Orban remains defiantly friendly.
Orban's unscheduled 'peace missions'
Meanwhile, one week after Hungary took over the rotating EU presidency, Orban on Monday travelled to Beijing where he met Chinese President Xi Jinping in a visit the European leader has branded as a "Peace mission 3.0" after recent trips to Moscow and Kyiv.
The unannounced visit comes a day before NATO is due to hold a summit to mark its 75th anniversary, with setbacks in Ukraine set to dominate discussions, and follows Orban's surprise trips to Russia and Ukraine in the past week.
Orban, the friendliest EU leader towards Moscow, held talks with President Vladimir Putin on Friday about the war in Ukraine during a trip criticised by both Kyiv and the EU, which said it threatened to undermine the bloc's stance on the conflict, while White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the trip was "not productive."
(With newswires)
