–Analysis–
PARIS — Defeated in France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party is now on the offensive at the European level. This went unnoticed Sunday night, but Jordan Bardella, the president of the far-right party, confirmed in his post-election speech that the RN has decided to join the new coalition in the European Parliament launched by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban: the “Patriots for Europe”.
The RN had not wanted to announce this before the second round of the French legislative elections on Sunday: Marine Le Pen had remained vague when asked last week.
And for good reasons: Viktor Orban, an “illiberal” prime minister and the closest to Russian President Vladimir Putin among the European Union’s 27 members, risked rekindling memories of the pro-Russian tendencies of France’s far right, a narrative that had taken a backseat in the most recent campaign.
Orban’s clever strategy
Viktor Orban is working to establish the third-largest group in the European Parliament, ahead of Renew Europe, which includes French members loyal to President Emmanuel Macron. Orban is absorbing the Identity and Democracy group founded by the RN: the Spanish far-right party Vox and the Flemish Vlaams Belang have already changed their alignment.
Orban’s strategy has been known for several years: rather than leaving the EU like the British did, he wants to divert its project from within. He’s seeking to create a minority that has enough influence (and vote) to prevent any deepening of European integration. He aims to promote an idea of the EU reduced to a minimum.
Orban is the mastermind of this strategy: he has been without a parliamentary group since his party, Fidesz, left the European People’s Party, the traditional right-wing group, in 2021. He had been circling around a far-right alliance, which had not been possible either with Italy’s Giorgia Meloni or with Le Pen. Between the two poles of the European far-right, he ultimately chose the Frenchwoman and her Identity and Democracy group.
Infiltrating the EU
This is the most structured attempt by the far-right to influence European politics — a challenge with significant consequences. Just look at Orban’s behavior in recent days. Having become president of the European Council on July 1 — a coordinating role without much real power — he has taken several initiatives that put him at odds with the EU’s stance.
Without consulting his European partners, he visited his authoritarian friends.
Without consulting his European partners, whom he is supposed to represent, he visited Moscow to meet with Vladimir Putin, who is under sanctions and pursued by international justice. He then visited Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Chinese President Xi, his authoritarian friends.
The Hungarian prime minister was counting on the National Rally’s victory in France, followed by Donald Trump’s victory in November. He’ll have to make do with the large contingent of RN elected representatives, but without France’s weight at the European Council table.
But the strategy of infiltrating the EU in order to paralyze it is well underway: and it’s now clear why the RN did not want to reveal their plans before the second round of elections.
