\u201cFor the Patriots, it would have been much easier just to vote against the return regulation,\u201d she said, as the group opposes migration policy being drawn in Brussels, believing that\u2019s a job for national capitals. \u201cBut we realized, if we do not cooperate now to form this right-wing majority, the left-wing proposal that would then have a majority would be much, much worse.\u201d<\/p>\n
A willingness to play the Brussels political game is unusual for a group made up of ideologically diverse nationalist parties united mainly by their desire to repatriate powers from Brussels to capitals, and which have traditionally shown little interest in working in the EU institutions.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2271926695-1024x683.jpg\")
Rather than remain a protest movement on the Parliament\u2019s fringes, far-right groups such as France\u2019s National Rally, Wilders\u2019 PVV, and Spain\u2019s Vox \u2014 united under the Patriots for Europe banner. | Emanuele Cremaschi\/Getty Images<\/p>\n
Yet Ehlers pushed back against the idea that the far-right camp\u2019s strategy to Brussels has changed: \u201cWe are now the third-largest group, and so we can actually change things, and so the pragmatism, I think, would have always been there also in earlier groups, had the opportunity been there to participate.\u201d<\/p>\n
Working together?<\/p>\n
The EPP says there is no structured alliance or coordination with the Patriots, insisting the far-right group supports its positions without any quid pro quo.<\/p>\n
Ehlers rejects that. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf they think people believe that, they are extremely na\u00efve,\u201d she said. Ehlers cited the EU\u2019s deportations law as an example, saying the EPP adopted several demands from the Patriots and the other far-right group in the Parliament, the Europe of Sovereign Nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cFor the Patriots, it would have been much easier just to vote against the return regulation,\u201d she said,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[18,345,1573,996,6207],"class_list":["post-21693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-brussels","tag-diplomacy","tag-far-right","tag-migration","tag-sustainability"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116759652424960090","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}