The Diplomat
Vox will leave the Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group of the European Parliament, where until now it had shared space with other far-right formations such as Georgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy or the Polish Law and Justice, and will join the Patriots for Europe, initiative promoted by the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán.
“This new platform aspires to form a new parliamentary group, the constitution and composition of which will likely be announced in the coming days,” the party reported in a statement.
Vox will contribute six deputies to this new group, which will also have the presence of the Freedom Party (FPÖ) of Austria and the Alliance of Dissatisfied Citizens (ANO) of the Czech Republic, and the foreseeable addition of the Portuguese extreme right of Chegal. In total, they need 25 seats from seven different nationalities to be able to form the parliamentary group.
“Patriots for Europe tries to unite the greatest number of patriots and sovereignists, and Vox has been working for the collaboration of all these forces in the ‘Viva’, in which we have called on our European allies,” said Vox leader Santiago Abascal. , in statements to the media La Gaceta. He refers to the conventions held by his party, in which different leaders of the extreme right have been invited, including Orbán, Meloni, or more recently, the Argentine president, Javier Milei.
“The patriotic forces that have increased their presence in the European Parliament have a historic opportunity to materialize the voters’ mandate in a large group that stands as an alternative to the coalition of popular, socialists and the extreme left,” claimed the Spanish party. in the statement, Europa Press reports.
This announcement came after this Monday the party assured that they did not plan to leave the ultra-conservative group. This was expressed by the Vox spokesperson, José Antonio Fúster, who welcomed the “patriot” platform and positioned its members as “allies”, but ruling out a possible incorporation. “The union does not have to be parliamentary, it has to be political, so we are delighted and we will work with them,” he concluded.
It seems that finally the far-right formation has opted for change, but with everything, they have made it clear that they will continue to collaborate with Meloni’s formation and the others that are not integrated into the patriots group. This has also been expressed by Abascal, who has pointed out that the relationship with the Brothers of Italy continues to be “very close.”
