The European Parliament is holding its first plenary session since the European elections in June this week. Newly-formed far-right groups are taking the stage and MEPs from the 27 EU member states are reshaping the 720-member institution for the next five-year legislative term.
Radioactive.
The European Parliament convenes this week for the first time since the June elections, with a bolstered far-right demanding more influence in the 720-member assembly.
On Tuesday, the 45-year-old Maltese conservative Roberta Metsola was re-elected as President of the European Parliament for a two-and-a-half-year term. After her mandate, a socialist will succeed her for the same duration.
The election result in June was characterised by a shift to the right in the European Union and the striking reorganisation of far-right groups in the parliament in the aftermath.
The far-right made significant gains in the June elections, although the centrist coalition made up of the conservative European People's Party (EPP), the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the liberal Renew is still the largest with each holding 188, 136 and 77 seats respectively.
Two newly established far-right groups entered the Parliament's halls on Tuesday: the Patriots for Europe (PfE) - created by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán - and Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) - a smaller camp that includes the Alternative for Germany (AfD) and France's Reconquête. These two groups are seen as politically radioactive.
With 84 MEPs from twelve countries - led by French Rassemblement National (RN) chief Jordan Bardella - the PfE group is now the third-largest force in the European Parliament, followed by the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) with 78 seats.
The ESN group - created by the far-right AfD - brings together 25 MEPs from eight countries. It has two co-presidents, René Aust from the AfD and Stanisław Tyszka from the Polish far-right populist alliance Konfederacja (Confederation).
Patriots for Europe group accused of serving Russia.
The far-right PfE and ESN groups are a red line for the centrist coalition (EPP, S&D and Renew). European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen - who will undergo a vote in Parliament for a second term on Thursday - said that there will be no dialogue with them. EPP leader Manfred Weber said that "whoever is against the EU cannot represent it".
Patriots spokesperson Alonso de Mendoza argued that a "cordon sanitaire" - a strategy employed by mainstream political parties to block the far-right - was "undemocratic".
The creation of the PfE group was announced at the end of June by the leader of the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ) Herbert Kickl, Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (Fidesz) and former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš of the populist ANO party.
In Austria, representatives from other parties in the European Parliament think little of the new group. In a press release, the delegation leader of the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP), Reinhold Lopatka, called them "the accomplices of the warmonger Putin in Europe" and does not expect them to do productive work in the Parliament.
"The self-proclaimed patriots for Europe are not interested in the further development of the EU, but solely in its weakening," said Lopatka.
In the Czech Republic, Prime Minister Petr Fiala said on X that the PfE group is knowingly or unknowingly serving Russia's interests and thus threatening the security and freedom of Europe. Babiš dismissed the comments and said that ANO has never colluded with the Kremlin.
In response to Fiala's remarks, ANO representatives did not attend a meeting of Czech MEPs with the prime minister last Friday.
Former Portuguese ambassador and now MEP for the Portuguese right-wing populist Chega party, António Tânger Corrêa, has previously said that he was in favour of a solution to the conflict in Ukraine that made Russia comfortable. Later he changed his position, after backlash from some members of his party, saying that Ukraine should be the one setting the terms.
Far-right remains splintered.
In addition to the Hungarian Fidesz and the French RN, the PfE group also includes Italy's Lega, Spain's Vox, the Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), the Danish People's Party, the Portuguese Chega and the Belgian Vlaams Belang. It also includes other MEPs from the Czech Republic (Oath and Motorists), Latvia (Latvia First) and Greece (Voice of Reason), as well as a satellite party of the Hungarian Fidesz called KDNP.
But in the EU legislature, the far-right remains fragmented - with far-right and Eurosceptic parties separating themselves between different groups.
Previously, the biggest Eurosceptic faction was the ECR, dominated by the Brothers of Italy (FdI) party of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has toned down her previous euroscepticism in power. The other was the Identity and Democracy (ID) group - which does not exist any longer - previously dominated by the French RN and which took a more anti-EU stance.
In Belgium, for example, the far-right anti-immigration and nationalist party Vlaams Belang joined the PfE group. The party won the most votes in the European elections and secured three seats in the European Parliament.
But Belgium also held federal elections simultaneously, in which the nationalist party New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) won the most votes. In the European Parliament, N-VA decided it would remain in the European ECR group.
In Poland, the far-right Konfederacja alliance split in two: three of the country's six elected MEPs have joined the ESN group, while two others are negotiating to join Viktor Orbán's Patriots.
Slovenia and Slovakia enter fifth legislative cycle.
In Slovenia and Slovakia, MEPs appear to remain most numerous in the parties of the centrist coalition.
During the new term of the Parliament, Slovenia will have nine MEPs: five for the EPP, one for the S&D, two for Renew and one for the Greens. For the first time since 2004 when Slovenia joined the EU, a Slovenian MEP will be one of the vice-chairs of the EPP Group. Another Slovenian MEP will be vice-chair of the Renew group.
Slovakia, however, will have the weakest representation in the EPP group since its accession to the EU in 2004. Out of 15 MEPs, only one will be in the EPP, six will join the Renew group, one will join the new ESN group and the remaining seven will be non-attached.
In the previous four cycles of Slovakia's presence in the European Parliament, Slovaks had been the most numerous in the EPP fraction. In the first cycle from 2004 to 2009 Slovakia had eight MEPs out of 14 in the EPP. In the previous cycle from 2019 to 2024 there were first five, then four out of 14.
What's next for the new European Parliament?.
As war rages on Europe's doorstep, the bloc faces multiple challenges including a stagnant economy and growing global uncertainty, which EU leaders and MEPs alike will have to confront head-on after their election.
But all eyes will be on Thursday's vote when lawmakers decide whether to give Ursula von der Leyen another five years as Commission chief, seen as the most powerful role in the EU.
Since EU leaders struck a hard-fought deal on her candidacy in late June, von der Leyen has been scrambling to win over lawmakers in the main political groups.
To secure the mandate, the German conservative needs at least 361 votes in the 720-seat chamber. It could be a tight race - in 2019, she secured the post by only nine votes.
(The content is based on news by agencies participating in the enr, in this case AFP, ANSA, APA, Belga, CTK, dpa, EFE, Lusa, PAP, STA, Tanjug, TASR).
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