Marine Le Pen, France's far-right leader, has formed a new far-right alliance with Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán. The group, called Patriots for Europe, is now the third-largest force in the European Parliament and the largest-ever far-right bloc in the assembly's history.

The declaration came following France's surprising election results, in which Le Pen's National Rally finished third due to tactical voting to block the hard right.

Jordan Bardella, largely regarded as the National Rally's prime minister candidate, has been elected head of the newly formed European Parliament group. "As patriotic forces, we are going to work together in order to retake our institutions and reorient policies to serve our nations and peoples," according to a statement he issued.

The nationalist, Eurosceptic group includes 84 MEPs from 12 EU nations.

Protecting Christian Europe

The group, led by Hungary's governing Fidesz party, was founded only eight days ago by Orban, the ANO party of former Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš, and Austria's far-right Freedom party leader Herbert Kickl. 

Kinga Gál, a veteran Fidesz MEP, who will serve as Bardella’s deputy, said to journalists that "Our long-term goal is to change European Union policymaking," adding that they aspire to "protect Europe's Christian roots," ensure "the strongest possible protection of Europe's external borders," and build a "strong competitive Europe."

Germany's AfD party was not allowed to join due to a previous ousting from an alliance with Le Pen due to pro-Nazi comments made by its lead candidate.

The arrival of Le Pen's MEPs propels the Patriots to third place, ahead of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's nationalist European Conservatives and Reformists, while pushing the liberal centrists to fifth and the Greens to sixth.

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While the group will be far larger than the previous far-right alliance it will likely struggle to secure prominent positions in parliament due to an informal cordon sanitaire against the extreme right. The traditional center-right and center-left parties, who once had a majority, currently have only 45% of seats, with the EPP on 188 and the Socialists on 136.

Ukraine serves as a dividing line between the self-proclaimed Patriots for Europe and the more realistic nationalist right of the European Conservatives and Reformists group in parliament. Petr Fiala, the only other EU leader who is an ECR member besides Meloni, harshly criticized the new group accusing it of serving the "interests of Russia, either consciously or unconsciously, and thus it threatens the security and freedom of Europe."

Peace mission

Meloni has proven to be a loyal backer of Ukraine and Italy's Nato membership, Orban arrived in Beijing after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin on a potential Ukrainian peace deal, which angered some EU leaders. 

Orban wrote on his X account that he was on a "Peace Mission 3.0".

His visit to China comes after his recent visit to Kiev, where he held talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and also went to the Kremlin on a visit condemned by his allies. 

EU ambassadors are set to examine his "peace mission" with one diplomat citing that "the tensions are high after only seven days of the presidency."

A Dutch MEP underlined the Patriots' splits on Ukraine, saying: “We, as a Dutch delegation, will keep supporting Ukraine as long as there is war. Every other delegation may do so [or] may not do so.” France's National Rally, has vowed to continue to provide military aid to Ukraine.

Violent riots erupt after leftists win French parliamentary elections

Violent nationwide protests erupted on Sunday after the left-wing New Popular Front (NPF) coalition's unexpected win, which allowed the alliance to secure the most seats in France's parliamentary elections.

The circulated footage showcased masked protesters igniting flames and causing violent disturbances throughout the streets of France, resulting in thousands of riot police being deployed following the loss of the far-right National Rally (RN).

The protests erupted after the election results were announced. The NPF obtained 182 seats, while President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance secured the second-place position with 163 seats. Despite the RN's strong electoral triumph in the first round, it attained third place, acquiring 143 seats in parliament.

French leftist leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon described the left wing's victory as an "immense relief for a majority of people in our country."

Following the defeat of Macron's centrist alliance, the president's Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced his resignation but said he will continue to "stay on as long as necessary" due to the upcoming Paris Olympics that will be held later this month.