Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán and his far-right Fidesz party are forming a new political alliance with Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ) and the Czech Action of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) Movement, with hopes of becoming a new group in the European Parliament.
The aim is for the group — called the “Patriots of Europe” — to become “the largest right-wing group in European politics,” Orbán said at a press conference in Vienna Sunday, alongside ANO leader and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl.
The announcement signified a “new era of European politics,” Kickl said, predicting that the “patriotic” alliance would be joined by other parties.
“We will prefer national sovereignty to federalism, liberty to orders, and peace to war,” Babiš wrote in a social media post.
All three parties came first in their respective countries during the European election earlier this month, gaining a significant number of seats in the European Parliament as right-wing support grew across the Continent.
The new group is expected to release a “Patriotic Manifesto,” focusing on tackling migration in Europe and opposing the European Green Deal, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s flagship package of environmental policies.
While the three parties have more than the 23 members required to form a new parliamentary group in the EU legislature, they still need elected MEPs from at least four other countries to conform with the assembly’s rules, according to the Parliament’s website.
The news comes as Hungary is about to take over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union from Belgium on July 1.