Defeated in France in the legislative elections, where it obtained 143 seats, far from the absolute majority hoped for, the National Rally is already working behind the scenes in the European Parliament. The party with the flame joined the new nationalist group “Patriots for Europe” in Brussels on Monday, initiated by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. And the president of the RN, Jordan Bardella, will even take the lead of this new political force in the European Parliament, largely built on the remains of the former Identity and Democracy group.
With the arrival of the 30 RN MEPs, this new group will become the third political force in the European Parliament, with 84 members, coming from 12 different countries. Enough to place it quite largely behind the pro-European right (EPP) and the social democrats (S&D). But ahead of the radical right ECR group of Giorgia Meloni (78 seats), or the liberal Renew group to which the Renaissance MEPs belong (76 seats).
Already this Sunday evening, during the announcement of the election results in France, Jordan Bardella had largely implied the rallying of his party to the new group of Viktor Orban. “Our MEPs will play tomorrow [lundi] fully their role within a large group that will weigh in the balance of power in Europe to refuse migratory submersion, punitive ecology and the confiscation of our sovereignty”, declared the leader of the National Rally, without giving further details. The RN delegation in Brussels announced a press conference for Monday afternoon following the “constitutive meeting” of this new group.
Matteo Salvini’s League joins the group
On June 30, Viktor Orban announced his intention to form this parliamentary group bringing together radical right-wing and nationalist parties, in concert with the Austrian far-right party FPÖ and the movement of former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis.
An initiative that has therefore found its audience: this Monday, the League of the Italian Matteo Salvini, with eight elected representatives, also announced on X its participation in this group that brings together radical right and nationalist parties under the name of “Patriots for Europe”. Five parties from different countries have also announced their support: the Party for Freedom (PVV) of the Dutch Geert Wilders, the Portuguese movement Chega, the Spanish Vox, and since this Saturday, the Danish People’s Party and the Flemish far-right independence party Vlaams Belang.
This new group largely takes up the composition of the former parliamentary group Identity and Democracy, minus the German AfD, plus Viktor Orban’s Fidesz. A political formation that was largely isolated and marginalized from the consensus and decisions taken in Brussels.
Opposition to military support for Ukraine?
This rallying of the National Rally and its 30 MEPs, however, gives much more weight to this group. The French party thus de facto takes the lead of this new political force in the European Parliament in terms of numbers, Viktor Orban’s Fidesz itself only having about ten seats. And failing to become Prime Minister, Jordan Bardella will therefore take the leadership of this new group in Brussels. Enough to bring to three the number of French people leading a political party in the European Parliament, with Valérie Hayer for the Renew group and Manon Aubry for the Left Group. “We are getting stronger every day: the RN is joining our political group Patriots for Europe. Welcome to the French patriots!”, greeted this Monday on X the Hungarian Secretary of State Tristan Azbej.
For Viktor Orban, the stated ambition is to make a different voice heard within the European Union. Firstly, the opposition to military support for Ukraine, he who went unilaterally to Moscow last week to meet Vladimir Putin and repeat his request for a “ceasefire”, triggering the anger of kyiv. Among the other subjects that this group intends to bring forward, we also find the fight against “illegal immigration” and support for the “traditional family”, declared the Hungarian Prime Minister.
But for the latter, the creation of this group of “patriots” may hide another ambition: that of eventually achieving a great union of the far-right parties in Brussels. “Viktor Orban’s project is to bring together nationalists and sovereignists of various persuasions, from Giorgia Meloni to Marine Le Pen. In the meantime, he is limiting himself to creating a group that he calls ‘European Patriots’, but with the ambition that he can unite. At that point, obviously, the Hungarian Prime Minister’s point of view on Russia and European policy towards Moscow would no longer necessarily be isolated,” Jacques Rupnik, research director at Ceri at Sciences Po, explained to L’Express. Even if for the moment, Giorgia Meloni and Marine Le Pen seem to be pursuing their fight from a distance rather than their rapprochement.