Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki are planning a power reshuffle in the European Parliament in an attempt to gain more influence over the next term, according to Euractiv.
While co-operation with the Deputy of the French National Assembly, Marine Le Pen, is not ruled out, her party’s exact position in the new balance remains unclear, with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni being the ultimate facilitator of the deal.
Ahead of the June EU elections and the strengthening of the national conservative group ECR and ID, Orbán’s Fidesz party is considering which faction to join after leaving the EPP in 2021. Balázs Orbán, Viktor Orbán’s political director, stated:
“The current structure is not good: national conservative forces are taking the lead in the polls, and they don’t have a proper voice in the European Parliament. So we need to create an environment where national conservative forces are much more heard on the European stage as well.”
However, Orbán will have to convince former Polish prime minister and Law and Justice (PiS/ECR) party leader, Mateusz Morawiecki, and their Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni (Fratelli d’Italia/ECR) if he wants to join the ECR.
Morawiecki confirmed that he had “a very good feeling with my colleagues from Fidesz”, adding that “Giorgia Meloni and Viktor Orbán have a good relationship.”
We want our group to be significantly bigger (…) through maybe attracting other parties like Fidesz.
However, some national delegations, such as the Czech ODS and the Sweden Democrats, threatened to withdraw from the group because of Fidesz, mainly because they disagree with the Hungarians’ stance on Ukraine.
While Meloni’s reaction to Orbán’s plans to join the ECR remains unknown, the key issue dividing Morawiecki and Meloni is how close they want to be to Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National.
Morawiecki argued that Le Pen could play a key role in ensuring the influence of nationalist forces in the next parliament. He favoured closer ties, although he rejected a full merger of ECR and ID due to the huge differences between the positions of the national delegations on key political issues.
“There are also other parties, which are part of the ID group, which can expand our capacity to negotiate the future coalition, including Marine Le Pen.”
He, however, declined to comment on the possibility of co-operation with Germany’s AfD, also an ID member.
Meanwhile, Balazs Orbán also confirmed that Fidesz was willing to work closely with Le Pen, as they shared a vision of an EU made up of nation states and a desire to reform it. However, the final decision would be made by Rome, where Fratelli d’Italia (FdI) and Meloni were widely regarded as leaders of the EU’s national-orientated wing.
While Meloni wants to co-operate with the Lega (ID), the FdI also seeks close partnership with the EPP, making strong ties with the Fidesz and ID parties a sensitive issue.
EPP Secretary General Thanasis Bakolas recently stated that the EU centre-right was open to co-operation with other national-oriented parties, but it would take time.
