Hungarian PM Viktor Orban met his Polish counterpart, Mateusz Morawiecki, and Matteo Salvini, the head of Italy’s ruling party Lega on Thursday (April 1) to lay the groundwork for a new European right-wing political grouping.
“The agenda of the meeting provides for a political alliance at European level between the League, Law and Justice (PiS) led by Morawiecki and Fidesz, Orbàn’s conservative party which has recently left the EPP group to the European Parliament,” the Hungarian government wrote in a press release on Tuesday (March 30).
On March 3, European People’s Party (EPP)-the biggest political group in the European Parliament- passed – with an 84-percent majority – the amendment of its rules of procedure that may enable the suspension of whole delegation’s membership, and as such those Fidesz as well.
In response, Orban who denounced the decision as “anti-democratic”, withdrew the Fidesz delegation from the EPP. The EPP released a short statement on March 18 confirming that it received the letter of resignation, and noted that the Fidesz party was no longer a member of the European center-right bloc.
“We are going to launch a new platform, an organization, a process which will give those citizens who believe in a traditional Europe the representation that they deserve,” Orban said ahead of the meeting with Morawiecki and Salvini in Budapest
After the meeting, the Hungarian premier welcomed “the first step of a long road together.” “We have agreed to continue the work. We will meet in May, either in Rome or in Warsaw” Orban told a joint news conference.
Salvini spoke of a “path which begins today and which will continue in several stages in different European capitals, expanding the group.”
Morawiecki said Brussels elite views Europe as a project for elite groups adding that “we would like to represent a wide range of people.”
The trio also argued in favour of Europe’s renewal and a renaissance of traditional European values.
With reporting by HungaryToday
