Will Fidesz, the party of Hungarian leader Viktor Orban, exhaust its entry into the European far-right family, with which Ursula von der Leyen does not rule out “cooperating”? The invitation to do so came from the Polish opposition Law and Justice party. Orban’s ultra-nationalist formation could join the group of European conservatives and reformists after the European elections in June. A kind of white smoke was already seen when Giorgia Meloni, the Italian prime minister, managed to persuade Orban, a pro-Russian, to withdraw his veto of the latest EU aid package for Ukraine. He broke, or at least mitigated, the negative dynamics of the Hungarian leader, which had persisted for more than a decade, pushing relations with Brussels to the limits and threatening to veto its decisions.
Meloni is an ally of the line championed by von der Leyen on immigration policy. They share the goal of concluding agreements with third countries, including Lebanon, which will outsource immigration control. Until recently, such agreements were considered taboo by the conservative family to which the European Commission president belongs.
Super unit
Added to the good harmony between Orban and the Fratelli leader is the interest of former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in uniting forces and increasing the influence of far-right formations in the European Chamber. His Law and Justice party defends military support for Kiev, positioning him in contrast to Orban, Russia’s most powerful ally in the European Union. But this dissonance seems to have taken a back seat for Morawiecki in his eagerness to unify forces. The problem is that life in the European Council for Reform – a group that includes Italy’s Fratelli, Poland’s PiS, Vox, and the Finnish and Swedish ultras – is not entirely harmonious. There are many internal duels, and they could be exacerbated if another distorted element, such as Orbán, is added to them.
The situation in the other extreme group, Identity and Democracy, can be described as a chicken coop, as it includes the Alternative for Germany (AfD), Marine Le Pen’s group, the Dutch Freedom Party led by Geert Wilders, and the Austrian Freedom Party of Austria. In addition to the Belgians and Danes. The AfD’s extremism, with its suspicion of pandering to Russia and China and its links to neo-Nazism, frightens Le Pen. Germanic ultras are isolated in their country’s parliamentary spectrum and have no options for gaining power. On the other hand, Le Pen sees herself as a winner in the upcoming presidential elections. He is interested in Melony’s moderation.
The current fragmentation of the European extremist family left them with little power, but it made it easier for von der Leyen to “not rule out” future support for the ECR and at the same time to reject any cooperation with the “threat.” To Democracy”, as is the case with the Alternative for Germany party.
It is also unknown how the head of the European People’s Group, Bavarian Manfred Weber, will fit into Orbán’s presence in the European Parliament, Von der Leyen’s virtual external support. Weber fought a fierce battle against Orbán years ago, which moved from the political sphere to personal insults. Fidesz left the popular group before its membership was suspended. Since then, the 21 MEPs are no longer part of the ECR or the ID.
Weber stressed in a separate meeting with the media during the German conservative conference in Berlin: “We do not cooperate with extremists or pro-Russians. These are our red lines.” He responded in a bad mood to a question about “Orban’s eventual entry” into this extreme right, which von der Leyen does not rule out: “It is not our place to enter into the strategies of the extreme right.”
“Freelance social media evangelist. Organizer. Certified student. Music maven.”
