Leader of Czech opposition attends extreme-right summit at the EP criticizing EU migration policy and the EC President
According to the European Parliamentary group called "Patriots for Europe", European Commission policy supports uncontrolled immigration into the EU. The group believes the Member States should be allowed to stop upholding EU migration policy, its representatives said after meeting in Brussels. Their gathering, which they referred to on the X social media site as their first joint summit, was attended by the chair of the Association of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) movement Andrej Babiš of the Czech Republic, as well as by other extreme-right parties.
Representatives of this group, established at the end of June, agreed in a declaration that EU migration policy disrupts the national security and sovereignty of the Member States. EC policy, in their view, supports uncontrolled immigration. “The Patriots are reminding the public that protection of the external border of the EU is an obligation, not a crime,” the declaration states. “Patriots for Europe” representatives also highlighted the recent successes of their member parties in elections in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France and the Netherlands.
Besides Babiš, many leaders of parties considered extremist attended the meeting. Geert Wilders of the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), MEP Harald Vilimsky of the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella of the French National Rally (RN), the anti-Roma politician who is the Italian Vice-PM and the leader of the governing Liga party Matteo Salvini, chair of the Fidesz party and Hungarian PM Viktor Orbán, and representatives of Belgium, Denmark, Greece and Poland were in attendance.
In their declaration following the gathering, the leading representatives of this newly-established extreme-right group in the EP also said they condemn the remarks made by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on the floor of the EP. When addressing the plenary session on 9 October, she criticized the Hungarian PM for his Government’s unwillingness to aid Ukraine. Orbán had reiterated his standpoint that Russia cannot be defeated by Ukraine when speaking ahead of the plenary in Strasbourg. The EC President’s remarks, according to “Patriots for Europe”, clearly violated her obligation to cooperate with the Council of the EU, as Hungary has chaired the Council of the EU since 1 July.
The EP’s new group includes ANO from the Czech Republic, the Austrian Freedom Party (FPÖ), which won the Austrian election at the end of September, and Fidesz of Hungary. Similarly aligned populist, right-wing parties across Europe have joined the “Patriots for Europe” group under Orbán’s leadership and distanced themselves from the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) group in the EP. Two Czech MEPs from the Oath (Přísaha) and Motorists Unite joint ticket, Nikola Bartůšek and Filip Turek, are also members of the “Patriots for Europe” group. The group’s vice-chair is Czech MEP Klára Dostálová (ANO).
“Patriots for Europe” is led by Bardella, the head of the French ultra-right National Rally, who told the group’s gathering in Brussels that it is necessary to avoid an escalation of tensions with Russia while supporting Ukraine.
