Lithuania's Nemunas Dawn plans to join the far-right Patriots for Europe group in the European Parliament, the party's leader Remigijus Žemaitaitis said on Monday.
With 85 lawmakers, Patriots for Europe is the European Parliament's third-largest political group.
Its members include France's Rassemblement National, Hungary's ruling Fidesz party led by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the Czech ANO party headed by Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, Italy's far-right Lega and Spain's far-right Vox.
No Lithuanian politician currently belongs to the bloc, which was founded last year and promotes anti-immigration and euroskeptic positions.
Žemaitaitis told BNS that his party has received an invitation to join the group.
"I communicate quite a lot with Hungary's foreign minister Péter [Szijjártó]. Even before our party was founded, they asked whether we would want to join," he said.
He added that Nemunas Dawn was also invited to take part in European Parliament elections but declined because the party had not yet been formally established.
Nemunas Dawn was founded in 2024, the same year European Parliament elections were held.
Žemaitaitis said the decision on joining the European political group would be taken by the party council.
"If we decide to move forward, it would be next year at the earliest, maybe April or May," the leader said. "I am one hundred percent sure we will make the decision by the municipal elections."
Lithuania’s municipal elections are due to take place in spring 2027.
On its website, Patriots for Europe group says it stands for national sovereignty, secure borders, economic stability and freedom of speech, while opposing further centralisation of power in the European Union and calling for strict measures against illegal immigration to preserve cultural identity.
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