Sawt Falasteen - EU's largest far-right bloc makes show of force in Madrid

Patriots for Europe has realigned the EU far right and became the European Parliament's third-largest force after Orban helped launch it last year to shift Brussels rightwards.

Among the leading nationalist figures taking to the stage are Orban, Le Pen, Dutch anti-Islam firebrand Geert Wilders, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini and former Czech premier Andrej Babis.

They will outline their strategy to defend "national sovereignty, the defence of liberty and European identity" and reject "mass immigration that destabilises nations", said Spanish party Vox, which is hosting the rally.

Their vision is a "real alternative" to the coalition in Brussels between the European People's Party of European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and the Socialists and Democrats, Vox added.

Around 2,000 people are due to attend the event after a dinner on Friday for the participants and Kevin Roberts, head of influential conservative US think tank The Heritage Foundation.

After last year's EU elections in which far-right parties performed strongly in several countries, Saturday's gathering "is a show of force", said Steven Forti, a researcher at the Autonomous University of Barcelona.

Those elections saw the group overtake the European Conservatives and Reformists, associated with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, while it also overshadows a smaller far-right bloc that includes Germany's ascendant AfD.

Patriots for Europe is therefore seeking to "show its central place in the competition" with rival far-right groups, Forti told AFP.

- 'Make Europe Great Again' -

"They want to take advantage of the wave from Trump's victory and the shock in the European Union" as the US president roils allies with his measures, Forti added.

The summit in the Spanish capital has adopted the slogan "Make Europe Great Again", a nod to Trump's rallying cry "Make America Great Again".

Orban is seen as one of Trump's closest EU allies, while Vox leader Santiago Abascal has highlighted the ideological affinity between the group and Trump, especially on immigration.

In wanting a European Union that "takes care of defence, the economy up to a certain point, and especially borders... it would be a confederation of sovereign states" that aligns the group with Trump, said Forti.

But Trump's threats, from slapping prohibitive tariffs on European goods to annexing Denmark's gigantic Arctic territory of Greenland, may generate tensions within the far right.

"Liking Donald Trump's patriotism does not mean being the vassal of the United States," Jordan Bardella, leader of France's National Rally whose figurehead is Le Pen, said last month.

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E.Qaddoumi--SF-PST