Poland starts a minimal commitment to Russia from the European extreme right

The leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, on the left, together with the Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, upon leaving the ultra summit held in Madrid. Fernando Sánchez - Europa Press

The Polish Prime Minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has managed to get the leaders of the European extreme right meeting this Saturday in Madrid to point to Russia as responsible for the risk of war in Eastern Europe. In the final communiqué of the summit hosted by the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal, the Kremlin is expressly pointed out by stating that "Russia's military actions on the eastern border of Europe have led us to the brink of war" . "Solidarity, determination and cooperation in defense matters among the nations of Europe are necessary in the face of such threats" adds the statement, which takes the opportunity to charge against Brussels, its great enemy, noting "the ineffectiveness of EU diplomacy" in this crisis and asking that European nations "work in solidarity in the face of the threat of external aggression".

The representatives of the dozen parties gathered in Madrid, from identitarian populists to xenophobic ultra-conservatives, all with representation in the European Parliament, did not plan to address the Russian threat to Ukraine, but, "after a deep discussion", the head of the Polish Government It has started a minimum commitment from its partners, for which it has been "very grateful".

"All our friends are aware that Russia threatens the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states," said Morawiecki at the end of the meeting.

Abascal, next to him, has avoided answering the question of whether Moscow is a threat to the security of the EU and has referred to the final communiqué of the summit.

The most conciliatory with Russia has been the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, who has underlined the need to put all energies into the search for "de-escalation and negotiation", to reverse the current crisis. Orbán, who is scheduled to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin on the 1st, did not want to blame Russia for the escalation of tension, claiming that it is "a very complicated military issue that no one knows exactly". Of course, he has warned against "an agreement on the security of Europe between Russia and the United States without the participation of the Europeans."

Faced with the only phrase that alludes to Russia, the final statement expands on attacking the European project, which it accuses of wanting to turn the EU into an "ideologized mega-state", which "disregards identity and national sovereignty", moves away "of Christian ideals" and puts "the survival of Western civilization itself" at risk.

The European far-right closes ranks with the governments of Poland and Hungary, on whom the European Commission has opened a file for harassing the LGTBI community and undermining judicial independence;

and claims the primacy of national constitutions and laws over Union law, which attacks one of the foundations of the EU.

In what there has been no agreement is to move towards the constitution of a single extreme right group in the European Parliament and end its current dispersion: the Poles of Law and Justice, Brothers of Italy and Vox in the ultraconservative group (ECR) ;

the Italian League and the French National Regroupment (former National Front) in Identity and Democracy (ID);

and the Hungarians of Fidesz with those not assigned.

The final statement only refers to the creation of a "coordination office" to unite positions in the European Parliament, while Morawiecki has stressed that the important thing is to share values ​​and concrete measures, "organizational changes will come later".

The French leader Marine Le Pen, who faces the first round of the Elysée elections in 70 days, has been more concerned about the flight of her faithful to the candidacy of the also far-right Éric Zemmour, starting with her own niece Marion Maréchal -Le Pen, and has denounced the disloyalty of those who work within his group in favor of his rival.

"Those who want to leave, let them go, but let them go now," he declared with visible irritation.

Le Pen was the only woman sitting at a table of political leaders with more than 90% men.

Taking advantage of irregular immigration

In the speech with which he opened and closed the meeting, Abascal made no reference to the crisis with Russia and stressed that irregular immigration "is an extraordinary vehicle" for the parties meeting in Madrid (from Austria, Belgium, Holland, Bulgaria, Romania, France, Italy, Estonia, Lithuania and Spain) get your message across to the citizens.

The leader of Vox has called on the forces of the European far right to "take advantage of the opportunity" offered by the arrival of immigrants to "unmask" the alleged pact "between the extreme left and the powerful globalist elite."

Vox has not allowed camera access to the room where the meeting was held, so only the images released by the party are known, which has claimed the restrictions imposed by covid for this.

Paradoxically, almost none of those attending a meeting held behind closed doors wore a mask.

In addition, Vox has once again prevented journalists from EL PAÍS, Cadena SER and other media outlets that it does not consider related to access to the final press conference of the summit, despite the fact that most of the financing of the party It comes from state subsidies.

Even a security guard from Vox has tried (unsuccessfully) to expel the journalist from EL PAÍS from the hall of the five-star hotel where the summit was taking place, despite being a place open to the public.