Spain - A little less than two months after their summit in Warsaw, the parties that signed the Statement on the Future of Europe last July met on Friday and Saturday in Madrid at the invitation of the Vox party, to give shape to their cooperation in Brussels. Being unable to create a common group in the European Parliament before the next elections (notably because of disagreements between the two Italian right-wing parties), they decided during these meetings on 28 and 29 January to create a coordination office in order to “join forces” and vote together in the European Parliament on issues that are important to them. On the sidelines of this summit of European right-wing parties from ten countries (Spain, France, Belgium, Austria, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Estonia), discussions were held between the four main leaders present: the Polish and Hungarian prime ministers Mateusz Morawiecki and Viktor Orbán, the leader of the Spanish liberal-conservative party Vox, Santiago Abascal, who hosted the meetings, and the leader of the French National Rally, Marine Le Pen.
These meetings, which are intended to be held regularly between several member parties of the Identity and Democracy group (among others: the National Rally, League and FPÖ – but without the German AfD) and the European Conservatives and Reformists group (among others: PiS, Vox and Fratelli d’Italia) in the European Parliament, as well as Fidesz, which has not yet joined any group since its exit from the EPP, also aim to provide
an alternative forum to the Conference on the Future of Europe desired by Emmanuel Macron, which consists of structured debates from which conservatives and supporters of a Europe of nations feel excluded.
The signal for the launch of such an alliance of right-wing parties in Europe was given by the signing of the Statement on the Future of Europe last July.
