Radical, populist, extreme, nationalist: How should we be talking about the far right?

The members of Patriots for Europe met in Brussels for the first time on Thursday, convening on the sidelines of the European summit.

The group is one of three at the right-wing end of the European Parliament, joined by Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).

The parties making up these three parliamentary groups are generally nationalist, sovereigntist, conservative and Eurosceptic, thoguh their positions differ on Russia and Ukraine and on their precise relationship to the European Union.

But while they can all be classified as far-right in one way or another, most of them reject this label.

Extreme right, hard right, radical right, national conservative, populist: these terms have invaded European public debate, and the lines between them are becoming increasingly blurry. So where do the differences really lie?

Euronews spoke to an expert about how to classify them.

"The Europe of Sovereign Nations is the most extreme far-right group in the European Parliament," says Dave Sinardet, Professor of Political Science at the Free Flemish University of Brussels.

Created in July, it is now the newest and smallest parliamentary group, and the notorious Alternative for Germany accounts for more than half of the group's 25 members. Also on board are a Polish party, Confederation, and Bulgarian MEPs from the pro-Russian party Renaissance.

Sinardet says a number of these parties can justifiably be described as extremist.

"This means that they do not always respect parliamentary democracy and that they have a number of authoritarian traits," he explained.

The professor also describes the group as illiberal, because it has problems accepting the independence of the judiciary, the rule of law