An Italian-Polish dispute within the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) faction of the European Parliament (EP) looks like it’s being soothed after the inaugural meeting of the parliamentary faction divided top jobs between Italian and Polish MEPs.
Fratelli d’Italia’s Nicola Procaccini and Joachim Stanisław Brudziński from Polish Law and Justice (PiS) are set to both chair the ECR in the years ahead in a sign of an agreement reached between the Poles and Italians despite earlier turbulence.
European and Brussels politics are still in flux a month after the EU elections, which saw the ECR ascend to becoming the third largest faction in the EP. Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia took commanding control over its parliamentary faction with an incoming bumper crop of new Italian MEPs.
Aiming to manoeuvre itself into a kingmaker role with an offer to rescue and reappoint European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, the ECR now presents itself to the EU establishment as a ‘safe pair of hands’ for the EU establishment—notwithstanding red lines over green policy and migration.
The past two weeks have seen the ECR’s aspirations come into conflict with a budding Patriot faction of the EP, spearheaded by Hungary’s Fidesz, after many ECR members have been taking umbrage with Orban’s stance on the Ukraine war.
Despite rumours that Poland’s leading conservative party, Law and Justice (PiS), could join the Patriot EP party, officials downplayed such a prospect as troubles between the Italians and Poles were aired during a group meeting Wednesday afternoon. This is despite the Poles temporarily boycotting an ECR group meeting last week due to the exclusion of Fidesz.
An insider source described a split within the Polish PiS delegation in Brussels, alongside earlier concerns about the outside chance that PiS could split for the new Orbán group.
However, PiS sources had earlier indicated that they would likely stay within the ECR because they were unable to dominate the Patriots faction after the Poles were refused a Secretary General role.
Czech ANO and Austrian FPÖ presented “Patriots of Europe” alongside Viktor Orbán on Monday, and Italian Lega welcomed the new faction amid speculation that the Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the EU Parliament would essentially fold. Viable new groups in the EP require a total of 23 MEPs from seven member states.
The Portuguese Chega party is the latest populist party within the EU Parliament to join the Patriots group, with speculation that Le Pen’s insurgent Rassemblement National could decide to join before the parliamentary group is set to have its planned inaugural meeting on July 8th in Brussels.
Despite positive overtures from party co-chair Alice Weidel, there is no certainty that the Germany AfD will be accepted into the new Patriots group, as speculation abounds in Brussels that the party is seeking to forge its own identitarian faction for the next five years, primarily comprised of nationalist parties from Eastern Europe.
