Far-right Patriots group springs to third force in European Parliament

euronews (in English)

Viktor Orbán’s nationalist 'Patriots for Europe' group has been officially established in the European Parliament today, boasting 84 MEPs making it the third-largest group in the hemicycle.

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00:00Victor Orban's far-right group has officially been established in the European Parliament.

00:10The Patriots for Europe has been joined by two significant parties, Matteo Salvini's

00:15League Party and Marine Le Pen's National Rally.

00:20Its president will be Jordan Bardella, who was not present in Brussels when the group

00:24formed.

00:26We started working together with colleagues who are able to take a firm stand against

00:33the harmful, centralising decisions of the Brussels bureaucrats that divide the nation-states.

00:39Our long-term goal is to change the European Union policy-making.

00:45Our new group will work to preserve Europe's Judeo-Christian roots, will strive for the

00:51strongest protection of Europe's external borders, will firmly say no to illegal migration

00:58and will work for a strong and competitive Europe.

01:02Patriots for Europe replaces the Identity and Democracy group in wanting to influence

01:07EU policies by proposing to adapt a hard-line stance on irregular migration, reverse the

01:13Green Deal and defend the right of Member States to veto decisions.

01:18Its members are potentially divided over the war in Ukraine, which some parties support

01:22and others do not.

01:24We as a Dutch delegation, we will keep supporting Ukraine as long as there is war, but every

01:31other delegation may do so, may not do so.

01:37We're here as a group, claiming peace.

01:43With 84 MEPs coming from 12 EU Member States, Patriots is now the third largest group in

01:50the European Parliament, overtaking the European Conservative and Reformists.

01:55Other national delegations include members from Austria's far-right Freedom Party and

01:59Spain's Vox Party.

02:01I would overturn the approach because, given that the consensus of this group has shifted

02:07at the electoral level and given that many parties are interested in this project, now

02:13we take a moment to calculate, we start making Patriots, more Conservatives, you will see

02:20that we get a number that is very close, if not higher, even than that of the Popular

02:25Party.

02:28The party has helped Orban achieve his goal of becoming the third largest force in the

02:32European Parliament.

02:33It is not impossible for this group to expand further.

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