One month after the European parliamentary elections, three right-wing populist formations from Central Europe – Hungary’s ruling Fidesz-KDNP alliance, the Czech ANO movement and Austria’s FPÖ – have redrawn the composition of the next European Parliament by forming the Patriots for Europe (PFE) bloc. With 13 member parties from 12 different EU countries, Patriots for Europe has quickly emerged as the third largest group in the European Parliament by absorbing most of the member parties of the Identity and Democracy Group (ID).

The emergence of the new group is seen as a major political achievement for its founders, particularly Hungary's ruling Fidesz-KDNP alliance, even if France’s National Rally (RN) will be the group’s de facto leader. Fidesz was notably ejected from the EPP in 2021 and has so far been unable to form an alternative European alliance.

While the PFE’s emergence is arguably significant from an EU parliamentary perspective, its formation was likely centered around impacting EU-level decision-making not in the EU Parliament but rather within the European Council and the Council of the EU. Should Austria’s FPÖ win the country’s elections in September and ANO return to power after the 2025 Czech elections, the founding parties will be able to create a blocking majority in the Council, significantly impacting the EU’s decision-making processes.

The launch of Patriots for Europe comes as Germany’s far-right AfD, previously a prominent ID member but expelled from the bloc shortly before the EU elections, also launched a new EU parliamentary group on 10 July. Called Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN), the group includes 25 MEPs from eight member states, including Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. A key difference between PFE and ESN is that while the former unites right-wing parties either in government or with potential to govern, the latter consists of far-right minority formations.