Former Polish Prime Minister and member of the opposition party Law and Justice (PiS) Mateusz Morawiecki announced at a press conference on Wednesday 31 January that he was “open” to the idea of Fidesz, the party of Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, joining the European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR).
“It’s of course the prerogative of the Hungarian government, and Viktor Orban in particular, and our prerogative to accept a new member”, he said. “I’m not sure any changes might happen prior to the European elections, but after the elections, I’m open to Fidesz joining our ECR group, that’d be part of our discussions and negotiations of course”, he added.
As a reminder, in March 2021, Fidesz left the European People’s Party (EPP) while under exclusion proceedings (see EUROPE 12681/16). The party’s 13 MEPs make up around 60% of the Hungarian delegation to Parliament.
With more MEPs in the group led by the President of the Italian Council, Giorgia Meloni, the electorate within the future Parliament could shift further to the right and make the ECR the third largest political force (see EUROPE 13283/2).
Ahead of the Extraordinary European Council on Thursday 1 February, Mr Morawiecki set out his positions on the issues on the agenda (see other news). He reaffirmed his support for Ukraine, for which “assistance is essential”. “This must be done without damaging the cohesion policy and the common agricultural policy”, he added.
He took the opportunity to show his support for European farmers, who have been protesting for several days. “Given the administrative overload weighing on their shoulders and the extreme injustice they suffer, caused by unfair competition between our farmers and those from abroad, reforms must therefore be considered”, he said.
Mr Morawiecki also reiterated his opposition to the ‘Migration and Asylum Pact’ (see EUROPE 13339/39). “The only way to break the migratory deadlock in the long term is not to open Europe’s doors wide but, on the contrary, to put in place effective barriers and to take fair and effective political measures towards the migrants’ countries of origin, which sometimes exert very strong pressure”, he said.
Finally, he criticised the fact that the current Polish government has agreed to the issue of own resources of the EU budget. This change to the European budget contributes to the centralisation of political decision-making, which in his view is a “dead end”. “If we want the EU to act more effectively, we need to reduce the range of competences of the Brussels-based institutions, particularly the European Commission; in other words, we need to avoid an increasingly common policy”, he argued.
The former Prime Minister thus set the tone for the coming campaign. (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)