It’s one of the staples of television news to show punch-ups in parliamentary settings. These days, such scenes are as common as natural disasters. On some occasions, it is more than a mere scuffle. Back in 1981, soon after the restoration of democracy in Spain, the Plenary Hall in Madrid was briefly occupied by 200 armed soldiers unhappy with the new order.
It is not every day, however, that parliamentarians are heard singing in an unruly manner. Yet, on 9 October, this is exactly what happened in the European parliament in Strasbourg. Two very different speeches were given that afternoon. The one that led to the sudden outburst of singing was delivered by the leader of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, to mark the beginning of his country’s six-month presidency of the European Council. The second was an unusually stirring speech by the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in which she roundly condemned Orbán.
It was a left-wing group of MEPs who sang ‘Bella Ciao’ at the tops of their voices, a song traditionally associated with the partisans who resisted fascism in Italy. The ‘bella’ in question is a beautiful maiden the singer is forced to leave behind in order to fight for the anti-fascist cause. The song has a repetitive ‘ciao, ciao, ciao’ chorus that lends itself to a full-throated chorus.
After tolerating the singing for a while, the speaker of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, found a witty way to bring it to a halt by reminding the assembled representatives that this was not Eurovision. What’s the betting that some country or another will choose a cover version of the old tune for their next entry? Despite the song’s origins, that country is unlikely to be Italy.
Partisan ditties are not something one associates with the European parliament. Proceedings there – at least since Brexit and the departure of Nigel Farage – have had a more placid, bureaucratic tone, but the recent elections have exposed some very atavistic tendencies across the continent. In France, Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella came within an ace of forming a government. In Germany, two eastern states, Saxony and Thuringia, saw wins for the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). In Austria, the far-right Freedom Party got the most votes. The parliamentarians and the newly re-elected Von der Leyen know all too well that the right in Europe has the wind in its sails.
Viktor Orbán is a prominent figure in this right-wing surge. Back in July, Politico described him standing in central Vienna alongside fellow populists from Austria and the Czech Republic, triumphantly announcing his new club, Patriots for Europe, a grouping inside the European Parliament which is now the third largest. Back then, it already encompassed the core territories of the former Habsburg lands – Austria, Bohemia and Hungary – and Orbán left no doubt who would be in charge:
“We are creating a political formation,” he declared, “that, in my view, will take off like a rocket and very quickly become the largest group of the European right. The sky is the limit.”
As Politico pointed out, the group’s name is a textbook antiphrasis, meaning the opposite of what it seems, like calling a tall man tiny: ‘While the “patriots” are many things, being “for Europe” is not among them.’ Once ostracised by Europe's political elite, Orbán ‘is now the talisman of Europe's mainstream right.
As he addressed parliament this time around, Orbán was at it again. Speaking in Hungarian, he lamented Britain's departure from the EU, blaming this for an imbalance on the continent that favoured a drive against sovereignty and independent national policy. This hinted at his longstanding refusal to accept migrant quotas.
