‘It takes two to tango’: Polish ex-PM refuses to rule out a single far-right group in EU Parliament

BRUSSELS — Former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki left the door open to a possible merger between his Euroskeptic political grouping and the far right in the European Parliament.

It “remains to be seen what are going to be the final results of the European elections and we’ll see,” Morawiecki told POLITICO after a press conference with Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and the former director of EU border agency Frontex, Fabrice Leggeri, who is a candidate for France’s National Rally.

Asked if the press conference was a sign of increased rapprochement between Morawiecki’s hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists group and Leggeri’s far-right Identity & Democracy, the Polish ex-PM said: “It’s too early to say, it takes two to tango and all the delegations within the ECR group have to have their voice and we are treating everybody with utmost respect and importance.”

Several members of ID, including Vlaams Belang MEP Gerolf Annemans and far-right German MEP Maximilian Krah, attended the event in the European Parliament, hosted by the ECR.

The conference demonstrated that the parties share much common ground when it comes to attacking the EU’s new migration deal, bashing bureaucrats, and pillorying the Green Deal as devastating for national industries.

However, apart from saying that discussions on Ukraine’s membership in the EU should be divorced from talk about its war with Russia, Orbán avoided the subject.

Fidesz MEP Kinga Gál said she hoped her party would join the ECR (Fidesz has been politically homeless in Europe since leaving the center-right European People’s Party in 2021).

Gál also brushed off notions that Fidesz and Poland’s Law & Justice (Morawiecki’s party) differ on supporting Ukraine against Russian invaders. “I am very positive about that,” she said, arguing the two had plenty in common as parties running on a “sovereigntist” platform.

National Rally MEP Gilles Lebreton said “negotiations are underway,” but downplayed the importance of forming a single large group combining Euroskeptics, nationalists and the far right.

“Whether there’s one group or two groups, I’m completely indifferent,” he said.

Morawiecki was clear, however, on wanting MEPs from Orbán’s Fidesz to join the ECR — a suggestion that has already caused consternation among some of Ukraine’s most staunch allies in the political faction.

“We are talking very intensively and I hope Viktor will join our group, but it’s his decision and it’s the decision of our delegations as well,” Morawiecki said.