The far-right PFE group, led by Le Pen’s “crown prince” Jordan Bardella, now has 85 members - one more than its colleagues in the Italian-dominated far-right ECR group.
This follows Katerina Konečná of the Czech Communist Party (KSČM) joining the PFE. She believes it has “most in common” with the left-wing alliance she ran for in the 2024 election.
In addition to the French National Rally, the PFE also includes, for example, the Hungarian former governing party Fidesz.
The ECR, the Sweden Democrats’ group in the EU, is in turn dominated by Meloni’s governing party, Brothers of Italy, and Poland’s Law and Justice party (PiS).
The largest group in the European Parliament is the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), with 185 members, ahead of the centre-left Socialists and Democrats (S&D), with 135.