New beginnings after the EPP

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, and Leader of the Italian Northern League Matteo Salvini will present the charter defining common values and goals on Thursday. In his latest statement, Salvini denied that they would be announcing a new party formation. In any case, Brussels and the EPP will be paying close attention to the results of the conservative trio planning a new future for Europe’s right.

Krakkó, 2021. február 17. A Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda által közreadott képen Mateusz Morawiecki lengyel (b) és Orbán Viktor magyar kormányfõ kezet fog II. Zsigmond Ágost lengyel király gyermekpáncéljának átadásán a krakkói Várban 2021. február 17-én. MTI/Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán Fotó: Miniszterelnöki Sajtóiroda/Fischer Zoltán

EPP problems will not fade away

According to our information from the European Parliament, the EPP will keep a sharp eye on the meeting and the contents of the joint charter of the emerging right bloc. It is questionable whether, based on the above line of reasoning, the party family can overcome the agglomerations that govern the EPP to the right. The matter was also discussed after a meeting between Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Bulgarian Prime Minister Bojko Borisov, Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Janša, and Czech Prime Minister Andrei Babiš (the Kurz, Borisov, Janša trio belong to the EPP). According to the Austrian Der Standard, when asked about a right-wing alliance with Viktor Orbán, the Bulgarian and Austrian EPP leaders replied negatively, while Janša left the question unanswered. Attacks against the Slovenian PM are increasingly intensifying from the left-liberal majority EP and, as was the case with the Hungarian ruling party, the EPP watches silently. (Our paper also documented this: last Friday, Janša was not allowed to broadcast a video about the state of the media in Slovenia during the EP’s Committee on Civil Liberties, so he instead just left the meeting.) Conservative sources have repeatedly warned against this before: problems within the EPP will not pass with the end of the Fidesz affair – other member parties will be caught in the crosshairs of the liberals as well.