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The Russia-friendly and Eurosceptic Freedom Party made history in September's general election when it topped the polls for the first time with 28.8% of the vote, narrowly beating Chancellor Karl Nehammer's ÖVP, which got 26.3%.

Populist nationalist eurosceptic parties are gaining strength in many European countries.

Populist eurosceptic parties were also on the rise then and, following the Brexit vote in June 2016, there were widespread predictions the EU would soon lose other member countries and fall apart altogether.

Marine le Pen consciously moved the party away from her father's more extreme policies, to make it more attractive to Eurosceptic mainstream voters.

Mr Paterson, a leading Eurosceptic who has previously campaigned for the UK to break away from the ECHR, subsequently applied to the court to challenge the lobbying report, arguing it had breached his rights to privacy and a family life.