The rise of Europe’s far-right accelerated with the formation of Patriots for Europe through a manifesto signed by Viktor Orban, Herbert Kickl, and Andrej Babis. On 15 November 2025, Deseret News reported that on June 30, 2024, the three leaders signed the Patriotic Manifesto for a European Future at Vienna’s Intercontinental Hotel, creating what became the largest opposition party in the European Parliament with an agenda emphasizing identity, homeland, economic protectionism, and hard-line immigration policies. The article begins:
On June 30, 2024, three of the most influential figures of nationalist and populist right-wing politics in Europe — Herbert Kickl, chairman of Austria’s Freedom Party, FPÖ; Viktor Orbán, chairman of Hungary’s Fidesz party and prime minister of Hungary; and Andrej Babiš, chairman of the Czech Republic’s ANO party — met with Harald Vilimsky, head of the FPÖ delegation in the European Parliament. They signed the Patriotic Manifesto for a European Future, laying the foundation for what would become the largest opposition party in the European Parliament: Patriots for Europe. In the gilded rooms of a global hotel chain beneath crystal chandeliers, the architects of this new “patriot” identity were setting out to redraw Europe’s political map. The words “nation” and “national” appear 15 times in the manifesto. Its ideals are clear: identity, homeland, economic protectionism, tradition and a hard line against immigration.
Key Points
- Viktor Orban, Herbert Kickl of Austria’s Freedom Party, and Andrej Babis of Czech ANO party signed the Patriotic Manifesto for a European Future on June 30, 2024, creating Patriots for Europe, which became the largest opposition party in the European Parliament.
- The manifesto uses the words nation and national 15 times, with ideals centered on identity, homeland, economic protectionism, tradition, and hard-line immigration policies, stating only through victory of patriotic and sovereigntist parties can children’s inheritance be guaranteed.
- Since 2022, right-wing leaders have won elections in Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Italy, Hungary, the Netherlands, Finland, Slovakia, and Sweden, while far-right parties have expanded their reach in France, Germany, Poland, and the UK, with the 2027 elections potentially bringing change to the three largest member states.
- The 2024 European elections consolidated three distinct right-wing eurosceptic groups: Europe of Sovereign Nations, including Germany’s AfD, Patriots for Europe, built around Austria’s FPO and Hungary’s Fidesz, and European Conservatives and Reformists, including Poland’s Law and Justice and Italy’s Fratelli d’Italia.
- The article questions whether the center can hold as mainstream conservative parties face a fundamental dilemma between alignment with economic elites and winning democratic majorities, warning that if France and Germany elect right-wing eurosceptic governments, the EU could face profound transformation, and the question becomes whether democracy and the open, tolerant societies it underpins can endure.
Patriots for Europe: Orbán’s EU Parliament Group and Its Role in the Global National Conservative Alliance
Patriots for Europe emerged in July 2024 as Viktor Orbán’s European Parliament group, serving as the institutional embodiment of the Global National Conservative Alliance (GNCA) within EU institutions. The group brought together Orbán’s Fidesz with Austria’s Freedom Party, Portugal’s Chega, and the Czech ANO party, meeting the threshold of 23 MEPs from seven countries. The alliance expanded when Spain’s Vox withdrew from Giorgia Meloni’s European Conservatives and Reformists to join, followed by France’s National Rally with 30 MEPs. Euronews reported the group became Parliament’s third-largest with 84 seats, promoting “Make Europe Great Again” as Hungary assumed the EU presidency.
The group reflects the GNCA’s core ideology of national sovereignty, cultural identity, and opposition to global institutions. At a June 2025 rally in France drawing over 6,000 supporters, Marine Le Pen declared Europeans are “not provinces of an empire,” while Orbán proclaimed Hungary “the last bastion of Christian Europe,” demonstrating the alliance’s rejection of EU federalism. Modern Diplomacy notes Patriots for Europe represents parties united by opposition to illegal immigration and criticism of Ukraine support, though they challenge EU institutions rather than advocate withdrawal.
Patriots for Europe operates within the broader GNCA network that connects through CPAC conferences, bringing American conservatives like Tucker Carlson together with European far-right leaders. According to Balkan Insight, mainstream European Parliament groups enforced a cordon sanitaire, denying Patriots leadership positions in key committees, limiting the group’s parliamentary influence despite its size. Russia initially sought to lead the GNCA ideologically before Ukraine’s war diminished Moscow’s role, with Hungary now serving as the bridge between American and European national conservatives through institutions like the Mathias Corvinus Collegium and events promoting shared authoritarian governance models.
External References:
• Hungary’s Orban announces plan to form new far-right bloc in European Parliament | Euronews
• Patriot Games: Viktor Orban Goes on the Offensive | Balkan Insight
• The national conservatism is spreading — Modern Diplomacy
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