Orban consolidates far-right in EU, threatens unity on Ukraine - Politico
Kyiv • UNN
Viktor Orban has created a new far-right group in the European Parliament, strengthening his influence. This could undermine EU unity on key issues, especially support for Ukraine.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has managed to build a coalition of like-minded individuals who share his strategic goal of creating a "Europe of nation-states." Under the Hungarian leader's leadership, a new far-right Eurosceptic group, Patriots for Europe, has become the third largest bloc in the European Parliament. Future developments risk undermining EU cohesion on key issues, especially when it comes to Ukraine. Politico writes about this, UNN reports.
Details
According to Politico, the Hungarian leader has managed to reorganize Europe's far right around his image and that of his Fidesz party, which was relegated to the political sidelines after leaving the center-right European People's Party group in 2019.
The creation of the Patriots group demonstrates that Orban is much less isolated than he initially thought and is able to build a coalition of like-minded individuals who share his strategic goal of creating a "Europe of nation-states." This suggests that far-right groups in the EU are more supportive of this vision than ever. And they represent a direct challenge to the more pragmatic populism espoused by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The publication notes that Orban has strengthened his alliance with France's National Rally, the largest far-right party on the continent, despite the fact that it failed to win a majority in the country's snap elections. Similarly, Geert Wilders' far-right Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) also joined the Patriots from the former far-right group in parliament, Identity and Democracy, after winning last year's Dutch elections and joining the coalition government for the first time.
However, this consolidation, according to Politico, will not change the balance of power in the parliament and is unlikely to have a significant impact on EU policy-making - at least in the short term.
The pro-EU center-left parties retained a significant majority in Brussels. Together with the Greens, they easily garnered enough votes to reappoint European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for a second term and to support her legislative priorities after that.
Thus, the Patriots will remain in opposition with a limited ability to influence the EU legislative process, the newspaper writes. The size of the group will allow it to receive more funding and become more visible at parliamentary sessions, but it will be deprived of any significant representation in the governing bodies of the parliament.
However, the medium-term problems are much more serious, according to Politico.
The number of Patriots in the Rada is likely to grow over time, as several national elections scheduled for the coming months and years have the potential to bring in new far-right governments. For example, elections will be held in Austria in September, where the far-right Freedom Party is in the lead, and next fall in the Czech Republic, where the nationalist Action of Disgruntled Citizens party of former Prime Minister Andrej Babiš is in the lead.
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Thus, while the far-right parties will continue to struggle with internal disagreements over policy, and von der Leyen will continue to be able to lead from the center, the results of several national elections may well give this group greater representation. And such a development risks undermining EU cohesion on key issues, most notably the EU budget, enlargement, and foreign policy - especially when it comes to Ukraine.
Through persuasion and financial manipulation, the EU has so far found ways to circumvent Orban's repeated vetoes on Ukraine. However, a more determined group of reluctant governments will be much harder to contain.
However, this is not the final version. Maloney continues to actively support Kyiv. Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico did not follow through on his criticism of military aid to Kyiv and did not veto it. The same can be said of the Dutch PVV party, which softened its position after agreeing to maintain support for Ukraine in The Hague as part of a center-right coalition government.
It is possible that other Russia-friendly far-right parties may be similarly forced to change their position. But the risk that Europe's unity will be undermined - especially if former US President Donald Trump wins the presidential election in November - is now clearly growing, the newspaper notes.
