ATHENS

The right-wing Patriots for Europe alliance, initiated by Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban, emerged on Monday as the third-biggest group in the European Parliament. 

Announcing the news, Orban's spokesperson Zoltan Kovacs said on X: “Patriots for Europe has been officially accredited as the new defining right-wing political group of the EP.”

Jordan Bardella, the chair of France's National Rally (RN), will be chairman of the alliance with Kinga Pal, the first vice chair of Orban's Fidesz party. Bardella had hoped to be France's next prime minister, but unexpected strength from French leftists in Sunday elections denied him the post.

The EP alliance includes 84 European lawmakers from 12 countries.

The largest delegation within the patriots will be Marine Le Pen's National Rally, with 30 lawmakers.

They are followed by Orban's Fidesz with 11, Matteo Salvini's Lega with eight, and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis' ANO with seven.

Other national delegations include Austria's Freedom Party (FPO), Spain's far-right Vox, and the Dutch nationalist PVV, each contributing six lawmakers.

The group also includes three lawmakers from Belgium's Flemish nationalist Vlaams Belang, two each from Portugal's Chega! and the Czech Republic's Oath and Motorists, and one each from Greece's Voice of Reason, the Latvia First party, and the Danish People's Party.