• Hungary Viktor Orban receives powers to rule by decree indefinitely

Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban hosted a meeting on Thursday that could shake up the right-wing balance of power at the European level.

Those attending the meeting in Budapest, the former Italian Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini, and the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, share with the Hungarian leader

a national-populist vision of the Old Continent

.

Now they seem ready to join forces and lay the foundations for a "new right" in Europe.

The meeting is preceded by the departure of MEPs from the Orban formation, Fidesz, of the European People's Party (EPP).

The divorce, which took place after years of conflicts over the government's policies with the rest of the European center-right parties regarding press freedom and human rights, was consummated on the 18th.

Since then, in his search for new allies, Orban has turned to Morawiecki's Law and Justice (PiS) party, as well as Salvini's anti-immigration and eurosceptic League.

However, the PiS and the League of Salvini

belong to different European political groupings

.

The Italian League of Salvini is part of the Identity and Democracy group of the European Parliament, where there is also the French National Group of Marine Le Pen and Alternative for Germany (AfD).

For its part, Law and Justice "(PiS) of Morawiecki is in the group of European Conservatives and Reformists, where the Spanish Vox party is also located.

"Today it is necessary to discuss the construction of a strong group that defends the traditional and normal values ​​on which European civilization has developed," Morawiecki said before leaving for the Hungarian capital.

Experts agree that the firm commitment to

create a new parliamentary group in the European Parliament

is unlikely to emerge from Thursday's meeting

.

The goals would be less ambitious and would involve coordinating joint action, including a new organization, to attract other parties of the populist right and the European extreme right in the medium and long term.

However, the idea of ​​a new parliamentary group is on the table.

If right-wing non-EPP forces were to come together, they could constitute the second largest grouping in the European Parliament - after the EPP itself - and exert significant influence.

This is how Salvini sees it, who clearly aspires to lead this new order of national populism with extreme right-wing overtones.

The alliance, far away

The political scientist of the University of Birmingham

Daniele Albertazzi

told the AFP agency that "it is not unreal" that PiS, Fidesz and the League of Salvini can form a common grouping in the European Parliament, adding that these formations have strong practical incentives. and financial to do so.

However, there is a

lack of ideological cohesion

to the right of the EPP on some issues.

They are all critical of the European Union, they consider that it has too much power and that it does not respect the national sovereignty of each state, "but when it comes to things like the distribution of asylum seekers ... the Party for Freedom (Dutch , led by Geert Wilders) and Orban have very different interests than Salvini, "said Albertazzi.

Another key aspect that divides populist leaders is relations with Russia.

Experts say it is unlikely that the ruling Polish Law and Justice Party (PiS), a staunch enemy of the Kremlin, could sign an alliance with the Le Pen National Grouping, which has had a fluid relationship with Moscow for years.

The position towards the eastern neighbor is key and has created tensions between these formations in the past.

Be that as it may, Salvini hinted before the meeting that this is not the time to seal alliances.

The talks would aim to "create a common charter of values, principles and objectives."

"We are not going to talk about political balances, European politics, we are going to talk about Europe, work, health and the future," he clarified before leaving for Budapest.

And he added: "We will also talk about migration policies, international alliances, the position towards Russia, China and the role that Turkey is playing, which is a problem at the gates of Europe."

On the fiscal side, Salvini said, "we have a lot to learn, because in these two countries there is a much fairer, faster, more agile and efficient fiscal system than that of the Italian bureaucracy."

The Spanish Vox party has no relationship with the Salvini League and for the moment it does not enter into the

expansionist plans

of the former Italian minister.

"There is no relationship with Vox because I am with rights and freedoms in all latitudes and I am not looking for friends," said the Italian politician a few days ago.

Gone is when Salvini included Vox among the "friends" of his formation, or when the leader of the Spanish party, Santiago Abascal, went to Rome as Salvini's guest in September 2019. The relationship between both formations cooled and now Vox it is closer to the far-right Italian Brothers of Italy party, led by Giorgia Meloni.

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