in-cyprus 5 February 2026
Independent Cypriot MEP Fidias Panayiotou is preparing to create a new political group in the European Parliament, with Slovak MEPs close to Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico forming its core.
Fidias told a Cypriot television station two days ago that the project is being “built” with his Slovak colleagues. Fico is known for his close and often controversial relations with Moscow on the European political stage.
The initiative is striking not only because it comes from a politician who began as a content creator and influencer before rapidly rising to the European Parliament, but because it attempts to make a pro-Russian presence official, organised and institutionally recognised in a parliament where political groups form the basic matrix of influence and power.
To form a political group in the European Parliament requires at least 23 MEPs from at least a quarter of EU member states—a threshold that brings not only numerical requirements but substantial political and procedural privileges, including more speaking time in plenary sessions, funding for staff and offices, and participation in committees and the Conference of Presidents.
MEPs aligned with Fico—leader of the Slovak party Direction – Social Democracy (SMER-SD)—currently do not belong to any broad political group in the European Parliament, following their removal from the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats. They now operate as non-inscrits, which objectively limits their influence in central parliamentary processes.
According to Brussels sources with knowledge of the developments, Fidias and his staff are examining—though it is not certain—the possibility of inviting two Greek MEPs to join the new group: Nikos Pappas and Nikos Farantouris, both now independent following their recent removal from SYRIZA’s euro-group.
The scenario was triggered by Fidias’s own comment that certain recent developments “help” his effort to identify MEPs who could join the project, according to the same sources. It is not clear whether there is a positive response from the two, though sources note that Fidias maintains good personal relations with them.
He reportedly also has excellent relations with Nikos Anadiotis of the Niki party, who has publicly expressed pro-Russian positions.
The project does not emerge in a political vacuum. Fidias has repeatedly occupied European and Cypriot public debate with his choices and positions.
A characteristic example was his trip to Moscow with Slovak MEPs at a time when the vast majority of European officials avoided any official presence in the Russian capital, as part of an informal political embargo over the war in Ukraine.
He presented the trip as a “peace mission,” though many interpreted it as an open challenge to the European line.
His rhetoric in favour of more “peaceful” talks with Russia has been at the centre of political confrontations, whilst his choice to appear with politicians from Russia’s political elite has triggered strong reactions in the European political environment.
A similar stir was caused by Anadiotis’s presence at the BRICS summit in Sochi, where he was photographed with former Russian president and Security Council deputy chairman Dmitry Medvedev—an image that confirms his close contact with Russian political circles.
The move was accompanied by public statements about emerging global political and economic axes in which Russia plays a central role.
Fidias is also at the centre of other criticism, with recent complaints concerning the use of EU funds for his political office in Cyprus, which is reportedly located in a luxury villa, as well as past public statements characterised as offensive that provoked institutional reactions.
All this composes the profile of an MEP who moves systematically outside traditional party frameworks, investing in direct communication, public provocation and conflict with “establishment” political lines.
The attempt to form a euro-group represents his most ambitious step so far. If successful, it will upgrade him institutionally and give him a role disproportionate to his electoral audience.
If not, it will be recorded as another indication of the limits encountered in the transition from a digital audience to organised European politics.
(information from iefimerida.gr)
