Hungary’s Orban moves to form new EU parliament group

VIENNA: Hungary´s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban on Sunday announced the formation of a new EU parliamentary alliance with Austria´s far-right party and the Czech centrist group of ex-premier Andrej Babis.

Orban -- whose country takes on the EU´s rotating presidency on Monday -- has long railed against the “Brussels elites”, most recently accusing Brussels of fuelling the war in Ukraine.

Hungary has vowed to use its EU presidency to push for its “vision of Europe” under the motto “Make Europe Great Again” -- echoing the rallying cry of Orban ally former US president Donald Trump.

“A new era begins here, and the first, perhaps decisive moment of this new era is the creation of a new European political faction that will change European politics,” Orban told reporters in Vienna at a joint press conference with Austria´s Freedom Party (FPOe) leader Herbert Kickl and Czech ANO party leader Babis.

Vowing to bring a “new era”, the three men signed what they termed a patriotic manifesto, promising “peace, security and development” instead of “war, migration and stagnation”.

The new alliance, “Patriots for Europe”, will need support from parties from at least four other countries to be recognised as a group in the EU parliament.

It is not yet clear who would join them.

Germany´s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) announced at its party conference on Sunday that it was officially withdrawing from the Identity and Democracy (ID) group, to which the FPOe also belongs, along with France´s National Rally and Italy´s League.