France's Le Pen hosts Europe allies in show of far-right unity

French far-right leader Marie Le Pen was Monday hosting key allies from across Europe, including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, in a bid to flaunt the unity and strength of the anti-immigration wing of European politics.The get-together in the bucolic countryside of Mormant-sur-Vernisson in the Loiret region south of Paris is ostensibly aimed at marking one year since Le Pen's National Rally (RN) crushed opponents to win their best-ever vote share in European elections.But the meeting is also a show of force from political factions that are increasingly buoyant in the wake of Donald Trump's return to the White House earlier this year and strong election results across the continent.Others attending as well as Orban include Italy's Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the League party Matteo Salvini, the leader of Spain's Vox party Santiago Abascal and former Czech premier Andrej Babis.They are all part of the Patriots for Europe faction in the European parliament, one of no less than three competing far-right factions in the chamber."The winds of change are gathering," Orban wrote on X late Sunday after the leaders met in the Chateau of Fontainebleau nearby to coordinate their positions.

- 'Different Europe' -The meeting also comes less than two years ahead of watershed presidential elections in France where President Emmanuel Macron, who has long promoted himself as a bulwark against the far right, cannot stand again and the RN sees its best ever chance of taking power.But it is far from certain if Le Pen will stand for a fourth time after her conviction earlier this year in a fake jobs scandal disqualifies her from standing from public office.She has appealed. But waiting in the wings is her protege and RN party leader Jordan Bardella, 29, who would stand if Le Pen was ineligible.Asked whether he hoped Le Pen would be elected president in two years, Orban reaffirmed his famous vow to drink champagne if Trump was elected: "Oh yes, I think it would be a magnum, more, more, more champagne that I could drink!" Orban told France's LCI TV in an interview broadcast late Sunday.Bardella, who polls have shown would still be set to win the first round of presidential elections if he stands, is taking care to project his image including a long TV interview with star anchor Karine Le Marchand aimed at showing his softer side.He hailed the meeting saying it was for a "Europe of Nations, of peoples, of freedoms, of protections, of identities, of production and innovation, of farmers and entrepreneurs!"Writing on X, Italy's Salvini added they were "working for a Europe different from the current one, of the people and not of bureaucrats, a friend and not an enemy of businesses, which does not invest in weapons but is committed to peace."As well as Le Pen's legal limbo the contours of the French 2027 presidential election remain largely unclear, with centre-right former prime minister Edouard Philippe the only major player to clearly state he will stand.