Former Czech PM Babiš at far-right summit together with the antigypsyist Salvini - Cyril Koky warns he is keeping "dangerous company"
Association of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) chair Andrej Babiš participated in a summit of the Patriots for Europe faction in the European Parliament that took place over the weekend in Madrid. The meeting, organized by the Spanish ultra-right party Vox, was also attended by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the head of France's National Rally, Marine Le Pen, and Italian Deputy PM Matteo Salvini.
In his speech, Babiš discussed the faction’s increasingly strong position and criticized the European Green Deal. The summit of the EP group, which is usually categorized as populist-right, was disrupted by a half-naked activist from the Femen group who shouted “not one concession to fascism”, according to Europa Press, a Spanish wire service.
Romani community member Cyril Koky has sharply criticized the presence of Czech politicians at the event in Spain. In his speech, Babiš said that Patriots for Europe is gaining strength and moving out of political isolation.
Babiš referred in particular to the head of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ), Herbert Kickl, who may become Austria’s next chancellor. The FPÖ is usually categorized as a populist party.
The former Czech PM also mentioned Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán, calling him “an ally of the American President Donald Trump in Europe”. In his view, Europe should return to “protecting its territory” and put its borders back on the agenda.
Babiš also sharply spoke out against the European Green Deal. “It’s time to look the truth in the eyes. The Green Deal is dead… There’s just one way to go forward: Cancel the Green Deal,” he declared.
Other Czech politicians who participated in the meeting in Madrid were the head of the Motorists Unite party, Petr Macinka, Czech MEP Filip Turek (Motorists) and Czech MEP Nikola Bartůšek (Oath). The aim of the summit, the slogan of which was “Make Europe Great Again”, an obvious reference to the slogan of Trump’s presidential campaign, was to strengthen the position of the ultra-right in the European Union.
According to wire service MTI, Orbán gave a speech expressing the conviction that “patriots” are those now writing the future of Austria, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands and the USA. He believes the Czech Republic will be next.
“Yesterday we were heretics, today we are the mainstream,” Orbán said, adding that the “Trump tornado” has changed the world in just a couple of weeks. Patriots for Europe is a new faction at the EP that formed on 30 June 2024.
Almost all of the parties who had previously been members of the eurosceptic, ultra-right Identity and Democracy group at the EP transferred into Patriots for Europe. Currently the Patriots are the third-strongest group in that EU institution.
Cyril Koky: Babiš is boasting of being in dangerous company
The attendance of Babiš and other Czech politicians at the summit has been criticized by Cyril Koky, who warned against the group’s ideological direction. “The parties in that faction have long belonged among the adherents of far-right, nationalist and often demagogic opinions,” Koky said, adding that apart from Babiš (ANO), Turek and his colleague Bartůšek, who ran for the Motorists and the Oath ticket in the Czech Republic, also headed to the summit.
“Andrej Babiš is even cheerfully boasting of the important company he has been keeping,” Koky told news server Romea.cz. Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, who also attended the summit, is famous for his racist stance on the Roma there.
For instance, Salvini wanted to raze all “illegal” encampments of Romani people to the ground and to deport all Roma who do not come from Italy. In 2019, German MEP Romeo Franz, himself of Romani origin, strongly objected to Salvini’s behavior, calling it racist.
“Salvini wants to implement expulsion of Romani people on the basis of their ethnicity. That is illegal,” Franz said at a plenary session of the EP in 2019.
“We all know who did such things in the past and what aims they were pursuing. Salvini will be ejecting innocent people onto the street,” Franz said.
“I am calling on the European Parliament to express itself in far stronger terms against antigypsyism and to take action against antigypsyists, including Salvini. His policy is an attack on European values, it is a disgrace for Europe, it is racism,” Franz told the EP.
Patriots are trying to demonstrate their strength on the far right
According to historian Steven Forti from the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the Patriots’ coalition is fragile and inconsistent. Moreover, there are two other similarly-focused groups at the EP – the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), whose members are, for instance, the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) from the Czech Republic or the Brothers of Italy (FDI) of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni; and the Europe of Sovereign Nations faction, which includes the Alternative for Germany (AfD).
Through the Madrid summit, the Patriots wanted to “demonstrate their strength” and “show their leading position” among the three factions, Forti told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
What you need to know
Andrej Babiš has participated in the summit of the ultra-right EP faction the Patriots for Europe in Madrid. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the head of France’s National Rally, Marine Le Pen, and Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini also attended.
In his speech, Babiš discussed the faction’s rising position, called the Green Deal “dead” and called for “a return to protecting the borders of Europe”.
Cyril Koky criticized Czech politicians’ participation at the summit, saying they were espousing “fascisizing and nationalist opinions”.
In the past, Salvini advocated for performing a head count of Roma so they could be deported, which was criticized in 2019 by Romani MEP Romeo Franz, who called him a racist.
According to historians, Patriots for Europe are trying to unite the European far right, but their coalition is fragile.
