Far-right ID group invites Orbán’s Fidesz to join their ranks

With the European election rapidly approaching, the far-right Identity & Democracy (ID) group is opening their arms for Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party to join the group, its Vice-President Gunnar Beck told Euractiv in an interview.

With the European elections edging closer, the parliamentary groups are looking to expand their power, by welcoming new national parties to their ranks. The far-right, which is already polling third place in current projections, is also looking for new allies, with Viktor Orbán being a hot contender.

“Fidesz would of course be welcome here in the ID if they requested membership,” Vice-President of the ID, Gunnar Beck (AfD) told Euractiv in an interview.

Such an addition could propel the group to new heights. Fidesz currently holds 12 seats in the Parliament, which they would bring into the group, in addition to granting ID its first seat among the EU’s heads of state and government in the European Council.

Jean-Paul Garraud, president of the French Rassemblement National delegation to the ID group, struck the same note. “We are very much in favour of Fidesz joining ID,” he told Euractiv.

“The personal ties of friendship between Victor Orbán and Marine le Pen are strong, as are the close ties I have with the Hungarian Fidesz MPs. We naturally hope that they will join the group,” he said.

After being suspended for nearly two years, Fidesz, the party of Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orbán, left the conservative EPP due to constant rule of law violations in the country. For the time being, Fidesz is standing without a parliamentary group among the non-attached members without any benefits such as preferential speaking time and financial subsidies for their members.

“I can’t say how comfortable they feel as non-attached members,” Beck said. After the alienation from the EPP, the ID group is Orbán’s most probable and ideologically closest ally.

Another option to elevate their status in the parliament would be to join the national-conservative ECR group. However, Orbán’s consistent refusal to support Ukraine stands in the way of the outspoken efforts by the ECR to fund the war-torn country.

The ID is therefore the likely contender for Hungary’s Fidesz.

The bigger picture

On Wednesday (31 January), leader of the Italian League Matteo Salvini painted a similar picture in Brussels. “I count that [ID] can grow further: with some new people, with new delegations and new countries, new movements we are in contact,” he said.

Currently, as only the sixth-largest group, the ID has been shunned by the unwritten agreement, or ‘cordon sanitaire’ of most other members of the parliament, who refused to cooperate with the group and overlooked its members when it came to the distribution of influential posts.

For Beck this is regrettable, though he said the refusal to cooperate will be more difficult to uphold after the elections.

“The bigger we get, the more difficult it becomes for the other groups to exclude us completely,” he stated.

While thematic cooperation with other groups, especially during voting sessions, is already the norm, ID is looking to expand its influence. And the idea to form a united right-wing group is still lurking in the shadows.

“A major merger of at least the two right-wing conservative parties in parliament, the ECR and the ID, is being discussed again and again. That is a recurring topic. It is not yet completely off the table,” ID’s Vice-President said.

According to polls from December by Europe Elects, such a move would propel the new group to 174 seats, placing it right on the neck of the largest group, the EPP with 179 projected members.

The question of Ukraine

However, one issue remains – the Ukraine question.

The same isolating position, which is keeping Fidesz from joining other groups, is keeping the ID to form a grand coalition with the ECR.

“We already have a lot of content-similarities with the ECR. Basically, there is only one area, namely foreign policy – in particular the war in Ukraine – where cooperation is somewhat more difficult,” Beck admits.

If this obstacle is not overcome, the ID will have to continue to rely on thematic cooperation.

“The ID has planned to achieve a change of direction in the areas of migration and climate policy. […] This can only be achieved in cooperation with other political groups, although much depends on the new composition of the EPP,” Beck stated.

[Paul Messad and Federica Pascale contributed to the story]

[Edited by Oliver Noyan/Nathalie Weatherald]