The third largest group of the European Parliament and in fact with a comfortable margin they are made “Patriots for Europe” after the addition of MEPs from the National Rally (Rassemblement National).

The National Rally officially joined the “Patriots for Europe” group on Monday with 30 MEPs and Jordan Bardela was elected president of the political group in a meeting in Brussels that lasted less than 20 minutes.

Patriots for Europe was founded in late June and also includes MEPs from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party. Kinga Gál of Fidesz was appointed first vice-president.

The Secretary General of the new group will be the former Secretary General of the Identity & Democracy group, Philip Claeys.

Apart from the National Rally and Fidesz, the other members of the group are:

– Lega (Italy): 8 MEPs

– ANO (Czech Republic): 7 MEPs

– Oath and Motorists (Czech Republic): 2 MEPs

– FPÖ (Austria): 6 MEPs

– PVV (Netherlands): 6 MEPs

– VOX (Spain): 6 MEPs

– Vlaams Belang (Flanders, Belgium): 3 MEPs

– CHEGA (Portugal): 2 MEPs

– Danish People’s Party (Denmark): 1 MEP

– Voice of Reason (Greece): 1 MEP (Latinopoulou)

– First Latvia (Latvia): 1 MEP

In a statement, Bardella — who was not present at the meeting in Brussels — said the Patriots “represent hope for tens of millions of citizens in European nations who value their identity, their sovereignty and their freedom. As patriotic forces, we will work together to reclaim our institutions and reorient policies to serve our nations and peoples.”