Brussels – The saga ends here, with the announcement of the establishment of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group in the 10th legislature of the European Parliament. After last week’s stalled negotiations over the division of offices and behind-the-scenes negotiations with the newly forming group “Patriots of Europe”, the Poles of Rights and Justice (PiS) remain within ECR and renew their alliance with Giorgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia. Sealing the renewed understanding is the division of top posts at the constituent meeting held this afternoon (July 3) between Sicily and Brussels, with outgoing Italian co-chair Nicola Procaccini confirmed alongside Polish Joachim Brudziński.
Ecr’s constituent meeting was initially scheduled for last Wednesday (June 26) but was postponed for a week due to internal tensions within the 20-member Polish delegation over ECR’s possible collaboration with the European People’s Party (EPP). It soon emerged that the party of ex-premier Mateusz Morawiecki was considering exiting the conservative right-wing group in the EU Parliament, relegating it to fourth place with 63 members and nullifying the overtaking to third place among parliamentary groups at the expense of the liberals of Renew Europe (76). It was the Polish leader who had ad open to the possibility of exiting ECR at the end of last week but retracted after not even 24 hours and said he was ready to resume dialogue with the Italians over the distribution of posts in the group.
This was before the announcement on Sunday (June 30) in Vienna on the birth of the new “Patriots for Europe” group in the EU Parliament by the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, of the Czech ex-Premier and leader of the populist liberal-conservative Ano 2011 (ex-Renew Europe) party, Andrej Babiš, and of the Chairman of the Austrian Freedom Party (ex-Identity and Democracy), Herbert Kickl. Although there is a strong political point of division between Hungarians and Poles—namely, the relationship with Vladimir Putin‘s Russia—the possibility of an alliance in the name of “we are in the same group, but each of us votes according to our own choices” was not to be ruled out until now, in order to create a large sovereignist group to be weighed in Brussels.
Awaiting the new political formation in Brussels that should see the light next Monday (July 8)—which could completely empty the Identity and Democracy (ID) group with the breakaways of the French Rassemblement National, the Italians of the Lega, the Portuguese of Chega, the Belgians of Vlaams Belang and the Dutch Party for Freedom – for the ECR group the balance does not change. As it emerges from the videoconference meeting between Brucoli, Syracuse (where the study days of the conservative right-wing European formation are underway) and Brussels (where in an EU Parliament chamber Polish MEPs have gathered), the membership rises to 84 and, at least for the moment, to third place among political groups. Joining the conservative right today was Jaak Madison of the conservative Estonian People’s Party (EKRE), formerly Identity and Democracy (which drops to 57).
Italy’s Procaccini, who appeared in Fanpage‘s investigation about Meloni’s party’s National Youth movement, was reappointed to lead it for the new legislature after the experience that began in 2023 and will now be joined by Poland’s Brudziński: Fratelli d’Italia (24) and Diritto e Giustizia (20) are respectively the first and second largest delegations in ECR by number of members. The other delegations are more distant, with the Spaniards of Vox and the newly joined Romanian Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), with six members, in third place. Elected to the vice-presidency were Belgian Assita Kanko of New Flemish Alliance (N-Va), Spaniard Hermann Tertsch of Vox, the Czech Alexandr Vondra of Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and the Swedish Charlie Weimers of Swedish Democrats, while Denis Nesci (Fratelli d’Italia) and Kosma Złotowski (PiS) are the new treasurers.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
