Hungary's Orban moves to form new EU parliament group

VIENNA — Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Sunday announced the formation of a new EU parliamentary alliance with Austria's far-right party and the Czech centrist group of ex-premier Andrej Babis.

Orban — whose country takes on the EU's rotating presidency on Monday — has long railed against the "Brussels elites", most recently accusing Brussels of fuelling the war in Ukraine.

Hungary has vowed to use its EU presidency to push for its "vision of Europe" under the motto "Make Europe Great Again" — echoing the rallying cry of Orban ally former US president Donald Trump.

"A new era begins here, and the first, perhaps decisive moment of this new era is the creation of a new European political faction that will change European politics," Orban told reporters in Vienna at a joint press conference with Austria's Freedom Party (FPOe) leader Herbert Kickl and Czech ANO Party leader Babis.

Vowing to bring a "new era", the three men signed what they termed a patriotic manifesto, promising "peace, security and development" instead of "war, migration and stagnation".

The new alliance, "Patriots for Europe", will need support from parties from at least four other countries to be recognised as a group in the EU parliament.

'New opportunities' 

It is not yet clear who would join them.

Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) announced at its party conference on Sunday that it was officially withdrawing from the Identity and Democracy (ID) group, to which the FPOe also belongs, along with France's National Rally and Italy's League.

The party's MEPs had already been excluded from the ID group in the run up to EU elections in early June after its lead candidate Maximilian Krah was embroiled in a series of scandals, including suspicious links to Russia and China.

Orban's Fidesz Party left the centre-right European People's Party (EPP) — the European Parliament's biggest group — in 2021 amid accusations of Hungary's democratic backsliding

"Even if the AfD cannot yet form a joint parliamentary group with Fidesz at this point, this opens up new opportunities for the AfD to work with other parties, as the party landscape of ECR and ID as a whole is in flux," a spokesman for AfD leader Alice Weidel told AFP.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s European Conservatives and Reformists is set to be the EU parliament’s third-largest force, following far-right gains at the European elections.

Fidesz, with its partner KDNP, now has 11 MEPs, ANO seven and the FPOe six.

In a first, the FPOe topped the European election in Austria and also looks set to win national elections later this year.

Babis’ ANO announced last week it was leaving Renew Europe, which includes French President Emmanuel Macron’s party.