On Tuesday, Law and Justice (PiS) leader Jarosław Kaczyński and PiS parliamentary caucus head Ryszard Terlecki met with PiS MEPs who are part of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the European Parliament to discuss the future of the European right.
Spokeswoman Beata Mazurek stated that the meeting concerned the situation in the European Parliament following Fidesz’s departure from the European People’s Party (EPP), as well as possible scenarios due to the situation.
“We would like to expand our political group. We spoke about the positives of expanding the ECR but the final decision concerning the direction we will take will be made by PiS’s political committee which will deliberate soon,” she said, adding that PiS would prefer for its political group to expand by the largest number of MEPs possible. Mazurek emphasized that a larger number of MEPs in the ECR would translate to larger representation in commissions and longer speech times.
She explained that talks are currently being held with fellow leaders of the European right — both Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and League party leader Matteo Salvini have been proposing their own initiatives, and Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki will also participate in a discussion on the matter soon.
PiS MEP Ryszard Czarnecki explained that talks during the meeting focused on international policy and the recent shuffling of the European political scene.
“It is known that this cooperation would be not only in the European Parliament, but also in the European Council,” he said, referring to the shifts within the European right. Czarnecki added that talks with Hungarian and Italian politicians are also planned.
Fidesz left the European People’s Party in early March following the passing of new rules which permit the expulsion of entire parties from the EPP. Orbán came forward with an initiative last week to reorganize the European right alongside Poland and Italy.
