Orbán: We are creating a political formation that will very quickly become the biggest faction of the European right

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the president of Fidesz, Herbert Kickl, the president of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, the president of the ANO party adopted a patriotic manifesto for the European future in Vienna on Sunday morning, Bertalan Havasi, the Prime Minister's Press Chief has said. The press conference, entitled Patriots for Europe, was broadcast live on Viktor Orbán's YouTube channel.

Orbán said it was clear that European politics needed to be changed. "A new era is beginning," Orbán said, adding that the first, crucial moment of this is the creation of a new European political group that will change European politics. The Prime Minister stressed that change has begun in Europe, and in his opinion the 9 June elections are proof of this.

“I am convinced that the political formation we are creating today will be successful and will very quickly become the biggest faction of the European right. This will happen within the next few days, and after that the sky will be the limit. But that will be for another press conference.”

– Orbán said, adding that they are taking on the responsibility of "launching a faction that will be the strongest right-wing grouping in Europe". "The strongest Austrian, Hungarian and Czech right-wing forces are now sitting before you."

Viktor Orbán said, speaking about a joint faction of the three parties which were represented: Fidesz, Austria's FPÖ and ANO, led by the former Czech prime minister, but European Parliament rules require four more countries to join, as a faction has to be made up of at least 23 MEPs from at least seven member states.

The briefing began with a statement by Herbert Kickl, who said that he believed that a new era of freedom and sovereignty was beginning in Europe. "I would like to present a new alliance, members of which will together provide Europe with new strength," he said. Kickl welcomed Viktor Orbán, who he described as the only prime minister in all of Europe capable of defending himself against the wave of migration.

Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš said they had come together to form a new political group in the European Parliament, and that they were united by three main priorities

• the defense of sovereignty,
• the fight against illegal migration
• and the vision of a Green Deal.

At the end of the briefing, they signed a manifesto of the three parties and announced their desire to achieve the creation of a political group in the European Parliament.

According to the text of the Patriotic Manifesto, the nations of Europe have reached a historic turning point. The European Union, once a dream project rooted in a desire for reconciliation after the devastation caused by two world wars and decades of division, has now turned against Europeans and is representing interests that are contrary to the will of the nations, the regions and the small communities that make up our European homeland. In the document, European patriotic forces promise to give the future of the continent back to the European people, MTI reports.

Austria's Kurir reported on Saturday that the Hungarian Prime Minister would be holding talks with Herbert Kickl, leader of Austria's far-right Freedom Party (FPÖ), and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš on Sunday. The paper said the far-right leaders would present a "patriotic manifesto".

Bertalan Havasi, Viktor Orbán's press chief told the Hungarian State News Agency MTI that the meeting would focus on the deepening of relations between European right-wing parties, and said that Harald Vilimsky, leader of FPÖ's EP parliamentary group would also be present.

On Saturday, Viktor Orbán published a scathing opinion piece in the Hungarian daily Magyar Nemzet in which he wrote about the European Union being stuck, saying that Brussels bureaucrats want to plunge the continent into ruin, while in their bid to hold on to power and not give in to the far-right forces which are gaining strength (but have not achieved the success Orbán had hoped for), the big, moderate parties in the European Parliament have made a pact "blocking the will of the electorate". In his article, he also noted that "two defining events" related to the right-wing parties' efforts to take power would be taking place "on Sunday".

It was reported on Thursday that Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) has reached an agreement with the Brothers of Italy (FdI) to remain in its current European Parliamentary Group. This is important from a Hungarian perspective because Népszava reported on Wednesday that Fidesz would be setting up its own EP parliamentary group. Balázs Orbán, the prime minister's political director, told reporters during Thursday's meeting of heads of state and government that “something might be happening soon, if I may put it that way.”

The president of the Czech ANO announced on 21 June that they were quitting the liberal Renew Europe EP group and the ALDE party family. The former Czech Prime Minister's rights were suspended in ALDE in May and an investigation was launched into ANO to assess its commitment to liberal values. The motion was tabled by Hungary’s Momentum, as well as the Dutch, Swedish, Austrian, Slovak and Polish liberal parties, because weeks earlier Babiš had attended the radical right-wing CPAC conference in Hungary, where he and Viktor Orbán, among others, had mutually praised each other's merits. According to the figures of the European Parliament, ANO won the EP elections in the Czech Republic on 6-9 June. This allows it to send seven MEPs to the body, giving it one of the largest national delegations among the Liberals.

The Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ) won the EP elections in Austria with 25.5 percent of the vote, just one percentage point ahead of the centre-right Austrian People's Party, allowing it to send six MEPs to the body. Unlike Fidesz and ANO, however, the FPÖ is in principle not independent: until now its MEPS have been part of the far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) group. It would now tie for being the third biggest party there. The group is set to hold its inaugural meeting on 3 July.

In the meantime, another new group may be formed, which would include Hungary's far right Mi Hazánk and Alternative for Germany (AfD). According to the latest information from Euractiv and Die Presse, the numerical conditions for this would already be in place, but the AfD has put the formation of the group on hold for the time being because it fears that some of its prospective partners are too extremist. Earlier reports had suggested that the AfD might try to squeeze back into ID, but according to an article in the Financial Times on Sunday, co-chair Alice Weidel spoke of forming a new faction. If they do, it will narrow the pool of independents from which Orbán's new group could easily draw in more members.

In principle, a new group can be formed at any time, but the deadline is 4 July, so that they can attend the EP's opening session on 16 July together. This is the meeting where several important posts will be allocated. It is likely that this is why Viktor Orbán spoke about establishing their group "within the next few days". (Népszava had earlier reported that Poland's Law and Justice and ID had submitted a request to have the deadline extended to 8 July.)