EU Conservatives Face Far-Right Cooperation Dilemma

The EU con­ser­v­a­tives’ far-right coop­er­a­tion cri­sis has forced the Euro­pean Peo­ple’s Par­ty into a defin­ing choice between tra­di­tion­al cen­trist alliances or work­ing with Patri­ots for Europe. On 29 Octo­ber 2025, Politi­co report­ed that the cen­ter-right EPP has two weeks to decide its strat­e­gy fol­low­ing a failed vote expos­ing deep divi­sions over the cor­don san­i­taire against far-right groups. The arti­cle begins:

Europe’s cen­ter right has two weeks to decide on the strat­e­gy that will define its next four years in the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment: Dilute its ambi­tion and stick with tra­di­tion­al main­stream allies — or work with the far right to get the job done. While gov­ern­ments in EU cap­i­tals grap­ple with the rise of pop­ulists, and cen­trist par­ties strug­gle to hold their ground, pan-Euro­pean groups in the Par­lia­ment are con­fronting sim­i­lar chal­lenges. Last week’s fail­ure to pass a land­mark law aimed at cut­ting red tape under­lined how lit­tle room for maneu­ver the cen­ter still has. The cen­ter-right Euro­pean Peo­ple’s Par­ty “still has the choice between work­ing with the far right that wants to demol­ish Europe, or a sta­ble pro-Euro­pean coali­tion,” Bas Eick­hout, co-chair of the Greens, con­sid­ered one of the EPP’s cen­trist allies, told POLITICO.

Read more: https://www.politico.eu/article/european-peoples-party-far-right-european-parliament/

Key Points

• The Euro­pean Peo­ple’s Par­ty nego­ti­at­ed with Patri­ots for Europe, the far-right Europe of Sov­er­eign Nations, and the Euro­pean Con­ser­v­a­tives and Reformists to back sim­pli­fi­ca­tion leg­is­la­tion before using that agree­ment to pres­sure cen­trist allies.
• Patri­ots for Europe law­mak­er Pas­cale Piera called on the EPP to aban­don its old allies from the cen­ter-left Social­ists and Democ­rats, lib­er­al Renew Europe, and the Greens to make a deal with far-right groups instead.
• The debate over the sim­pli­fi­ca­tion law is forc­ing a reck­on­ing for the EPP over whether to uphold the cor­don san­i­taire dic­tat­ing that cen­trist groups don’t work with the far right or declare the cen­trist coali­tion failing.
• Crit­ics warn that lean­ing on the far right to pass the bill would show a strate­gic direc­tion for the EPP and set a dan­ger­ous prece­dent for leg­isla­tive work going for­ward in the Euro­pean Parliament.

National Conservative Parties Gain Power in European Parliament Through New Alliance

Par­ties rep­re­sent­ing the Glob­al Nation­al Con­ser­v­a­tive Alliance (GNCA) have estab­lished sig­nif­i­cant influ­ence with­in the Euro­pean Par­lia­ment through the Patri­ots for Europe par­lia­men­tary group, which became the third-largest group with 84 MEPs fol­low­ing its for­ma­tion in July 2024. Led by Jor­dan Bardel­la of France’s Nation­al Ral­ly, the coali­tion com­pris­es Hun­gary’s Fidesz, Aus­tri­a’s FPÖ, Spain’s Vox, and Bel­gium’s Vlaams Belang, posi­tion­ing itself on a plat­form empha­siz­ing nation­al sov­er­eign­ty, Euroscep­ti­cism, and oppo­si­tion to deep­er EU inte­gra­tion. This par­lia­men­tary bloc reflects the broad­er Euro­pean nation­al con­ser­v­a­tive move­men­t’s empha­sis on tra­di­tion­al cul­tur­al iden­ti­ty and resis­tance to supra­na­tion­al governance.

These par­ties have increas­ing­ly adopt­ed left-wing eco­nom­ic poli­cies to broad­en their appeal among work­ing-class vot­ers frus­trat­ed with gov­ern­ment aus­ter­i­ty. Ger­many’s AfD attract­ed 33% of blue-col­lar vot­ers in Euro­pean Par­lia­ment elec­tions, more than any oth­er par­ty, while France’s Nation­al Ral­ly sup­ports low­er retire­ment ages and wel­fare increas­es. This strate­gic shift rep­re­sents “wel­fare chauvinism”—supporting gen­er­ous ben­e­fits for cit­i­zens while exclud­ing migrants—and marks a depar­ture from Rea­gan-era free-mar­ket ideals toward nation­al­ist pro­tec­tion­ist poli­cies. Par­ties from Swe­den to Greece now call for high­er wel­fare ben­e­fits, sub­si­dies, and pro­tec­tion­ism to cap­ture vot­ers alien­at­ed by estab­lish­ment parties.

Par­lia­men­tary activ­i­ties demon­strate coor­di­nat­ed efforts to advance their agen­da. Bel­gian MEP Tom Van­den­driess­che is lead­ing the Patri­ots for Europe motion to des­ig­nate Antifa as a ter­ror­ist enti­ty, with Hun­gary’s Vik­tor Orbán and For­eign Min­is­ter Péter Szi­jjártó sup­port­ing the des­ig­na­tion fol­low­ing Trump’s sim­i­lar U.S. clas­si­fi­ca­tion. Ger­many’s AfD promised to clas­si­fy Antifa as a ter­ror group if elect­ed, reflect­ing how these par­ties deploy anti-fas­cist move­ments as scape­goats to deflect respon­si­bil­i­ty from far-right vio­lence. The coor­di­na­tion extends to con­tro­ver­sial deci­sions such as Patri­ots for Europe unan­i­mous­ly approv­ing Likud’s observ­er sta­tus dur­ing a Madrid meet­ing, despite con­cerns about legit­imiz­ing par­ties with Nazi-era con­nec­tions like Aus­tri­a’s FPÖ.

Exter­nal References:

• Patri­ots for Europe — Wikipedia
• Euro­pean Par­lia­ment: Con­ser­v­a­tives and Patri­ots mark the end of Iden­ti­ty and Democ­ra­cy — Euronews
• The Patri­ots for Europe: Dis­man­tling Euro­pean Democ­ra­cy from With­in — Verfassungsblog

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