Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Marine Le Pen, the face of the far-right National Rally (RN), want a new right-wing formation in Europe. “The European party scene is in transition,” Orban told the press after meeting Le Pen in Budapest. “We are organizing, we are active and we want to play a role in this revolution.”
“One day we will have a big group in the European Parliament,” Le Pen said. The two politicians did not give any details about what this group would look like and who would be part of it.
Orban’s right-wing nationalist Fidesz party left the European People’s Party (EPP) in March of this year. The twelve party members are now without a group. So Orban is looking for allies on the right side of the political spectrum.
It has also hosted former Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini (Liga) in recent months, Spain’s far-right Santiago Abascal, and French radical right-wing politician Eric Zemmour, who could face Marine Le Pen next year. Le Pen is next year’s presidential candidate for the far-right National Rally. So it handed over the leadership of the party to its deputy, Jordan Bardella, last month.
“ideological brutality”
The RN belongs to the Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament. Orbán and Fidesz have close ties to the ruling Polish party, the Law and Justice Party, which is part of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).
Le Pen expressed support for Orban on Tuesday and denounced “ideological brutality” on the part of the European Union. “Hungary 2021, under your leadership, is once again on the front line in the fight for the freedom of the people,” she said. If Le Pen is elected next year, France will support Hungary to refocus the European Union that threatens the idea of sovereignty.
The French have not commented on Hungary’s anti-LGBTQ+ law, which is central to the dispute between Budapest and the European Union. “Since I am fundamentally committed to the sovereignty of every nation, it is not for me to give lessons to the Hungarian people,” she said.
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