MEPs from the French National Gathering party will join the Patriots for Europe group, which will make that far-right political group the third strongest in the European Parliament, several people involved in the talks told Politiko.
With 30 MEPs, the delegation of the far-right National Gathering will be the largest in the Patriots for Europe group, formed at the end of June, which also includes MPs from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's Fidesz party, two MEPs and one official from the Identity and Democracy group told the Brussels portal. the French party once belonged to.
If the Orban-Le Pen group becomes the third force in the Parliament, it will be a big blow for the coalition of the center, which is looking for a parliamentary majority to ensure the second term of Ursula von der Leyen at the head of the European Commission, reports the Daily European service of the Beta agency.
"We want to quickly become the third largest party," said Orban's political director and Hungarian lawmaker Balazs Orban.
A large group of Patriots would have been a significant force in Parliament that would have overturned the Brussels narrative of recent weeks had the far-right wave not materialized in the European elections in early June.
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If they are joined, as expected, by 30 MEPs Marine Le Pen and eight from Matteo Salvini's League, the Patriots for Europe will have 79 MEPs, slightly more than the liberal group Renew and the far-right European conservatives and reformists led by the Brothers of Italy, Đorđe Meloni and by the Polish party Law and Justice.
In the outgoing Parliament, Identity and Democracy had 49 MEPs and was the sixth largest group.
However, the power of the new group will likely be limited and other groups will block it from taking key positions, such as chairing committees or vice-presidential positions, writes Politiko.
The condition for forming a parliamentary group is at least 23 deputies from seven EU member states, and the new alliance already includes right-wing members from Hungary, Austria, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands.
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