Jarosław Kaczyński has invited fellow national-conservative leaders – including Matteo Salvini and Viktor Orbán – for talks in Warsaw next month to discuss the future of the European Union, which they want to have a stronger emphasis on national sovereignty and “traditional values”.
The summit will continue a process launched in July this year, when the leaders signed a declaration on “reforming Europe”. It also follows a meeting last month between Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen.
News of the summit was first announced today on Twitter by Tomasz Poręba, an MEP from Poland’s ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party. He revealed that Kaczyński – who as PiS chairman is Poland’s de facto leader – has invited right-wing leaders “to talk about [the] future of Europe and current political trends in the EU”.
Among those on the guest list are Salvini, leader of Italy’s Lega party; Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán; Santiago Abascal, the president of Spain’s Vox party; and Giorgia Meloni from the Brothers of Italy, who is head of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) grouping in the European Parliament to which PiS belongs.
President @pisorgpl Jarosław Kaczyński invited at the beginning of December to Warsaw many European conservative leaders, including @GiorgiaMeloni Victor Orban @Santi_ABASCAL @matteosalvinimi and others to talk about future of Europe and current political trends in the EU
— Tomasz Poręba (@TomaszPoreba) November 12, 2021
The deputy head of the ECR, Radosław Fogiel of PiS, subsequently revealed that the summit, which is due to take place in early December, would be “a continuation of what began with the July declaration”, reports Niezależna.
“It will be an attempt to develop our vision of Europe and the European Union in the context of the ongoing debate on the Future of Europe,” he explained, referring to an EU consultation process on how to reform its policies and institutions.
Italy’s Ansa news agency, cited by TVN24, reported that the meeting will be an opportunity to discuss “the new balance of power in Brussels” and “the defence of European borders”. The latter issue that has received renewed attention amid a crisis on Poland’s – and the EU’s – frontier with Belarus.
In July’s declaration, the 15 European right-wing leaders called for “cooperation of European nations based on tradition, respect for the culture and history of European states, respect for Europe’s Judeo-Christian heritage and…not on their destruction”.
They condemned the “dangerous” attempts to “create a European superstate and new social structures” through “imposing an ideological monopoly” and “invasive social engineering”. This must “provoke legitimate resistance”, they declared.
The document called for clearer limitations on the competencies of EU institutions, and in particular a halt to their efforts to “take precedence over national constitutional institutions” through “brutal imposition of the will of politically stronger entities on weaker ones”.
Nationalist parties from 15 EU countries, including RN, PiS, Fidesz, FdI, Vox and Lega, have united in order to reform the EU which, “instead of protecting Europe and its heritage, it is itself becoming a source of problems”#populism #rightwing #farrighthttps://t.co/Csquea3Sw4
— Ioannis E Kolovos (@ioannisekolovos) July 2, 2021
That declaration followed talks earlier in the year in Budapest between Morawiecki, Orbán and Salvini amid rumours that they could form a new European grouping.
PiS, however, had previously ruled out working with Le Pen, due to her close ties with the Kremlin. In 2019, Kaczyński warned that Le Pen’s National Rally (RN) party is “obviously linked to Moscow and receives its support”. He raised concern that RN’s “policies could be adjusted by the Kremlin if they became a strong force in the EU”.
In the same year, Morawiecki said that PiS – which, unlike many other groups on the European hard right, holds a strongly anti-Russian line – “rules out an alliance with any faction that had France’s National Rally as a member”.
Yet this year that stance has softened. Le Pen was among the signatories of July’s declaration. Last month, she met with Morawiecki in Brussels, after which she declared that the two “share many points in common”.
Asked about today’s announcement of a new summit between the right-wing leaders, Rafał Trzaskowski, deputy leader of Poland’s largest opposition party, accused PiS of seeking alliances with “all those who love to take money from Putin and cooperate with him”.
“This is what PiS policy is about: not to pursue any positive policy in the EU, but to enter into alliances with these extreme elements,” added Trzaskowski, who is mayor of Warsaw, in an interview with TVN24.
Main image credit: Jakub Orzechowski / Agencja Gazeta
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
