Hungary’s Orbán Announces New ‘Patriots for Europe’ Alliance with Austrian and Czech Nationalists

Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ), Czechia’s ANO, and Hungary’s Fidesz have formed a new right-wing coalition, the parties’ respective leaders announced at a joint press conference in Vienna on Sunday.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, and Austrian opposition leader Herbert Kickl said the new alliance would hopefully entice others to join and become the largest nationalist political group in the European Parliament.

“Today we are creating a political formation that will ‘forge ahead’ and very quickly become the strongest grouping and largest faction of the European right,” Orbán said.

The Hungarian prime minister expects this to happen within days, and then the “sky will be the limit.”

Orbán pointed out that the situation in Europe is clear, that European politics must change and change is needed in Europe.

He underlined that in 20 of the 27 EU member states, parties that promised change to the citizens won the European Parliament elections.

The Hungarian leader revealed the parties had adopted the Patriots’ manifesto, which summarizes the ideals and goals around which they are organizing their work.

According to Orbán, the European economy is in crisis, its weight is diminishing and the threat of terrorism and migration is constant. He warned of the ongoing war in Europe’s backyard that the European liberal elite had not been able to prevent from breaking out or from stopping.

“Today is a historic day, as we will present the group of three parties and their representatives, which aims to bring about a political change in Europe at the inaugural session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg on July 16. It will be an era of freedom, sovereignty, peace, prosperity, and values,” said Herbert Kickl.

“We will not stand idly by and watch the emergence of a European superstate in which the parliaments of the member states degenerate into a kind of folklore, where sovereignty and the self-determination of individual states are empty phrases. We want a Europe that once again shows itself and develops with pride, values, traditions, and diversity,” said the FPÖ President. He added that “Europe does not want to be left to Macron, Von der Leyen or some left-wing experiment.”

At the press conference, Andrej Babiš stressed that EU environmental policy should take more account of economic development in order not to jeopardize the competitiveness of the Community. Technically sound, economically viable, and socially just solutions must be found.

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