Who else will join?

ID postpones session: more time for Kickl alliance

Herbert Kickl (FPÖ), Viktor Orban (right, Fidesz) and Andrej Babis (ANO) announced on Sunday that they would be founding a new EU right-wing group called "Patriots for Europe".(Bild: APA/TOBIAS STEINMAURER)

How many right-wing groups will there be in the EU Parliament in future? The FPÖ with party leader Herbert Kickl wants to put its new "Patriots for Europe" alliance into action. However, it still needs supporters from at least four other EU member states. The ID Group, of which the FPÖ is currently a member, has postponed its constituent meeting planned for Wednesday. 

The ID Group will now not meet until July 8. After the FPÖ, together with the Czech ANO and the Hungarian Fidesz of Prime Minister Viktor Orban, announced on Sunday that they would form a new group called "Patriots for Europe", it was unclear whether the ID Group would continue to exist in its current form.

EU Parliament to be constituted on July 16
The three groupings (FPÖ, Fidesz, ANO) alone will bring together the 23 mandates required to form a new parliamentary group. However, they still need members from at least four other EU member states. The EU Parliament will be formally constituted on July 16.

Lega holds talks with Kickl's alliance
Italy's right-wing governing party Lega, led by Matteo Salvini (currently also an ID member), is reportedly holding talks on the possibility of joining the new far-right group. It is unclear how Marine Le Pen's French Rassemblement National (RN) will behave. The RN has so far made up the largest group of MEPs in the ID Group and hopes to win a majority in the Assemblée Générale in the French parliamentary elections on July 7.

RN must now decide after the French elections
The fact that the constituent meeting of the ID Group has now been set for 8 July - the day after the elections in France - gives the RN the opportunity to wait until after the elections to show its true colors.

Which EU group will it be? Marine Le Pen (RN) has not yet decided.(Bild: AP/The Associated Press)

There were already disputes within the ID Group before the EU elections after the German AfD was expelled from the group at the instigation of the RN. The reason for this was a Nazi slogan used by its lead candidate Maximilian Krah, who was excluded from the new AfD delegation after the election.

What will happen to the AfD?
There are currently no plans to include the AfD in the new "Patriots for Europe" alliance. "Even if the AfD cannot join a joint parliamentary group with Fidesz at this stage, this opens up new opportunities for the AfD to work together with other parties," Daniel Tapp, spokesperson for AfD co-leader Alice Weidel, told the German Press Agency in Berlin. "The AfD would certainly fit perfectly into this grouping," according to dpa, also from circles within the AfD federal executive. The FPÖ and Fidesz are very close to the AfD in terms of content.