Far right Dansk Folkeparti joins Viktor Orbán’s new group in European Parliament

The far right Danish political party Dansk Folkeparti, represented by Anders Vistisen, has switched from the Identity and Democracy (ID) group to the newly-founded Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament.

Dansk Folkeparti MEP Anders Vistisen. Photo: Dansk Folkeparti

Lena Hunter

Jul 9, 2024

Patriots for Europe was co-founded six days ago by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the Austrian Freedom Party and the Czech ANO, according to Reuters.

Since his 14-year grip on power in Hungary began, Orbán and his national party Fidesz have gradually eroded democratic institutions such as free press and the rule of law.

Orbán has been repeatedly criticized by the European community for his ‘Russia-friendly’ policies.

Those policies, which he defends as “illiberal Christian democracy”, saw the European Parliament suspend Fidesz from the European People’s Party in March 2019, denouncing its rule in Hungary as a “hybrid regime of electoral autocracy”.

But Dansk Folkeparti’s MEP Anders Vistisen does not see the decision to join Orbán’s EP party as an endorsement of his policies.

“We have underscored in our charter that foreign policy must be national. And you can see differences in foreign policy in all the groups in the European Parliament. The difference is just that we recognize that there are national differences, and therefore Orbán cannot and must not dictate Danish foreign policy. And we must not dictate the Hungarian one either,” he told DR.

When the Patriots for Europe group was announced on Sunday, the three founders emphasized that illegal immigration would be a central focus, as would be returning legislative power held by the EU to individual member states, writes Reuters.

Dansk Folkeparti was a co-founder of ID. According to DR, several of the members have already registered with Patriots for Europe. Both groups are on the right wing.

Vistisen told DR that he expects the remaining members of ID will follow suit.

According to Reuters, parties from at least a quarter of the EU’s 27 member states must be part of a single group before it can be officially formed in parliament.