Fidesz had been unaffiliated at the European level since leaving the European People's Party Group (EPP Group) in March 2021. ANO MEPs belonged to the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe Party and its affiliated Renew Europe group since 2011, but left both organisations after the 2024 European Parliament elections, citing disagreements with the party's programme. The Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) belonged to the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) group during the ninth term (2019–2024). [20]
On 30 June 2024, the founding of the group was announced at a press conference in Vienna 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). [21] [22] [23] Representatives of the three founding parties signed "A Patriotic Manifesto for a European Future", [24] [25] [26] setting out the alliance's ideological positions, including weakening the EU, a focus on European cultural identity, opposition to illegal immigration, and a revision of the European Green Deal. [27]
On 1 July, the nationalist Portuguese party Chega, with two MEPs, became the fourth member of the Patriots for Europe. [28] [29] On 5 July, the Spanish Vox party also joined, leaving the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group. [30] The same day, the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), formerly part of the ID Group, also announced it would join. [31] On 6 July, the Danish People's Party and Vlaams Belang, both part of the ID group, announced they would also join, bringing the group above the minimum number of member states required for an official European Parliament group. [32] [33] On 8 July, the National Rally (RN) and Lega were announced as new members of the group. [34] [35] The prerequisite for establishing a political group of the European Parliament is the membership of at least 23 MEPs from at least seven EU member states. The alliance met this criterion on 6 July 2024. [36] According to Le Monde , the RN waited until after the second round of the 2024 French legislative election for the announcement "for fear of reviving suspicion of pro-Russian sympathies". [37]
Potential members
During the formation process, parties previously speculated as possible members of the new EU Group included: [38] [39] [40]
- Germany: Alternative for Germany (AfD), which has 15 MEPs (formerly part of the ID Group). However, due to previous tension between Fidesz and AfD, this was seen as unlikely, [41] with AfD stating it had no current plans to join. [42] AfD expressed interest in creating a group including Hungarian Fidesz rival Our Homeland Movement and the Bulgarian Revival. These parties eventually established a separate far-right grouping, Europe of Sovereign Nations. [43] Fidesz leader Viktor Orbán later stated in an interview that the National Rally had objected to AfD joining the Patriots for Europe group. [44]
- Poland: Law and Justice (PiS), which won 20 MEPs, initially negotiated with the Patriots for Europe, but later reached an agreement with Brothers of Italy allowing it to remain in the European Conservatives and Reformists. [45]
- Slovakia: Republic Movement, with two MEPs, expressed interest in membership, [46] but one MEP subsequently joined Europe of Sovereign Nations on 10 July. [47]
- Slovakia: Smer–SD was speculated to join the alliance with its five MEPs; however, according to its junior coalition partner, Hlas–SD, Smer–SD expressed a preference for rejoining the S&D group. [48] Although it was later rejected from S&D, [49] Smer–SD declined to join Patriots for Europe, saying that it can not join the group that "has nothing to do with social democracy". [50] [51]
- Slovenia: The Slovenian Democratic Party (SDS), which won four MEPs, ultimately remained part of the EPP Group, while noting that not all SDS MEPs agreed with this decision. [52] [53]
