The Vox spokesman also said that “the office would allow for continuous cooperation between the right-wing parties of the European Parliament, which currently belong to three different groups or are independent. It would serve to coordinate their policies, positions and voices while respecting the freedom of each party”.
Fifteen parties from 12 European countries participated in the conference “Protecting Europe”, reported MTI, Hungarian news outlet.
According to the Spanish press, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán (Fidesz), Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki (PiS), French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen (Rassemblement National) and Santiago Abascal, leader of the Spanish Vox Party, were all present. Other European leaders there were Tom Van Grieken, leader of the Belgian Vlaams Belang, Paolo Borchia, representative of Identity and Democracy, and Vincenzo Sofo, representative of Fratelli d’Italia.
Politicians from the Austrian Freedom Party FPÖ, the Bulgarian Nationalist Party, the Estonian Conservative People’s Party EKRE, LLRA-KŠS, JA21 in the Netherlands and Romania’s Christian Democratic National Peasant Party.
The previously mentioned Conservative parties began cooperating last summer when they published a joint statement on the concept of the EU and rejected the left-liberal, federalist attempts at a European superstate.
“This declaration is about the future of the EU and the protection of nations, families and traditional Christian values,” said Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The collaboration intensified when the party leaders met and consulted in Warsaw in December last year. They concluded this meeting with a joint declaration in which they declared that only the sovereign institutions of states have full democratic legitimacy. The EU institutions do not have the same legitimacy and should therefore play a minor role in the political structure of nation states.
The participants had already started discussions on closer cooperation in the European Parliament, but the latest announcement is the first concrete result.
No details have yet been published on institutionalised cooperation and the formation of a European party family and a European group within the European Parliament.
In March last year, Fidesz left the increasingly left-leaning European People’s Party, the EPP. Therefore, they will now seek a new party family in the European Parliament to better represent its interests.
“In the modern world, there is no need for a ‘concrete institution’ to keep any kind of permanent cooperation mechanism alive,” said Marek Kuchinski, member of the Polish Sejm and politician for PiS, in response to Magyar Nemzet’s question as to whether these negotiations so far have yielded some tangible results.
Marine Le Pen answered the same question by saying “This may be a party, but the main goal is to unite patriotic leaders. Such cooperation would be a real revolution in the European Parliament.” Tom Van Grieken told the newspaper that “We are working on this step by step. I think it would be a mistake on the part of the right-wing parties concerned to speed things up.”
The 16 parties that signed the joint statement last year have a total of 113 MEPs in the 705-strong European Parliament, which would make them the third strongest group if they merge. It is not yet certain whether Fratelli d’Italia and Lega Nord will join the alliance. But even more right-wing parties can join: the Hungarian Democratic Union in Romania (RMDSz) and the Slovenian Democratic Party SDS – both in the EPP – also have close ties to Fidesz.
Support also comes from another source: the British may have left the European Union, but they have not lost interest in Europe. While British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is leading talks on a possible alliance with Poland and Ukraine against Russia, Polish-born Conservative MP Daniel Kawczyński said in a debate published by Remix News on January 27 that he was in favour of a strong alliance with Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia.
In his chronicle, the Conservative MP notes that “the Visegrad Group is a triumph for the European Partnership. Its four Member States – Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovakia – have supported each other’s common interests for centuries. These four nations also represent ideal partners for our country, the United Kingdom, as we enter a post-Brexit world. (…) The once iron-fisted political partnerships of the Visegrad countries with Germany are faltering and now, after Brexit, it is in Britain’s utmost interest to act decisively. We can position ourselves as the most important Visegrad partner by engaging our significant military and energy-oriented industries. Direct cooperation with the Visegrad countries can now be the surest way for the UK to regain its influence in continental Europe.”
Kawczyński recalled that “If you look at it as a single entity, Visegrad would be the twelfth largest economy in the world – almost equivalent to Russia itself.
Perhaps because of the crisis unfolding in Ukraine, Kawczyński went beyond enhanced economic cooperation and is also considering defence cooperation: “[The Visegrad Group] is at the forefront of Europe’s escalating rivalry with Russia. The Russian-Belarusian harassment of the EU border, via an artificial migrant crisis in Poland, is a current example of a growing demand for military support in the region. When Brussels did not provide enough support, aid came from Britain. Britain’s armed forces, and a world-class arms industry, are able to make a positive contribution to Visegrad’s defence needs.”
