Identity and Democracy in the context of "Patriots for Europe"

The Europe of Sovereign Nations Group (ESN; French: L'Europe des Nations Souveraines, ENS; German: Europa der Souveränen Nationen) is a far-right political group in the European Parliament, formed on 10 July 2024 as the smallest group ahead of the 10th European Parliament. Its members previously belonged to the Identity and Democracy group, the European Conservatives and Reformists Group or were non-attached.

The 2024 European Parliament election was held in the European Union (EU) between 6 and 9 June 2024. It was the tenth parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first European Parliament election after Brexit. A total of 720 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) were elected to represent more than 450 million people from 27 member states. This election also coincided with a number of other elections in some European Union member states.

The European People's Party led by Ursula von der Leyen won the most seats in the European Parliament. The pro-EU centrist, liberal, social democrat and environmentalist parties suffered losses, while anti-EU right-wing populist parties made gains. The right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists group overtook the centrist Renew Europe group to win the fourth-most seats, while another right-wing group, Patriots for Europe, the successor of Identity and Democracy, won the third-most seats. In addition, a far-right group, Europe of Sovereign Nations, was formed, becoming the smallest group in the Parliament. In total, 187 MEPs (26% of Parliament) belonged to the hard right which is more members than ever before in history.

Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENF; French: Europe des nations et des libertés, ENL) was a far-right political group that operated in the European Parliament between 2015 and 2019. It was composed of 37 MEPs and only existed during the European Parliament's 8th term. Most of its MPs were members of the Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom political party.

Ideologically, ENF was right-wing populist and Eurosceptic. Its members included far-right parties such as French National Front (known as National Rally after 2018), Italian Lega Nord, Dutch Party for Freedom, and Vlaams Belang. After the 2019 European Parliament election, ENF was transformed into the Identity and Democracy group.

Jussi Kristian Halla-aho (Finnish: [ˈjusːi ˈhɑlːɑˌɑho]; born 27 April 1971) is a Finnish politician, currently serving as the Speaker of the Parliament of Finland since 2023. Halla-aho has served as a member of the Parliament of Finland from 2011 to 2014 and again since 2019, and as the leader of the Finns Party from 10 June 2017 to 14 August 2021. Previously, between 2014 and 2019, he was a member of the European Parliament, where he was part of the Identity and Democracy group.

Halla-aho has a PhD in Slavic Studies. Before entering national politics, he was best known for criticising multiculturalism and Finland's immigration policies in his online blog, Scripta. He was first elected to the Helsinki City Council in 2008 and to the Finnish parliament in 2011. In 2014 he was elected to the European Parliament. He was elected leader of the Finns Party in the summer of 2017, defeating Sampo Terho, after which the majority of the party's MPs seceded in protest and formed a new party. In spite of this, Halla-aho led the Finns Party to success in the 2019 election: it recovered all of its lost seats, becoming the second-largest party in parliament (after the Social Democratic Party), and Halla-aho won the largest share of personal votes in the country.