Dutch far-right Wilders to join Babiš and Orban's new EP political alliance

Dutch politician Geert Wilders' far-right Party for Freedom (PVV) is set to join the new political alliance Patriots for Europe in the European Parliament (EP), recently formed by right-wing parties from Czechia, Hungary and Austria: Andrej Babiš's ANO party, Viktor Orban's Fidesz party, and the right-wing populist Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ). In a post on social media site X, Wilders announced the move, wrote that he rejected "illegal migration" and expressed support for Ukraine.

The formation of the Patriots for Europe alliance was announced in Vienna last week by Orban, Babiš, and FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl. Between them, the three founding parties have the minimum number of 23 MEPs required to establish a political group in the European Parliament, but they still need parties from at least four other countries to join them, as the prerequisite also stipulates that an alliance must have MEPs from at least seven EU member states in order to register as an officially recognised parliamentary group.

In addition to Wilders' party, which has six seats in the European Parliament, the far-right Portuguese Chega party and the Spanish Vox party have also said they will join, meaning Patriots for Europe have so far secured MEPs from six countries out of the required seven.