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European populist parties from ten EU member states joined forces at a summit in Madrid on Saturday, vowing to protect the national sovereignty of their corresponding countries against the long arm of Brussels.
Representatives of ten populist parties in Europe, including Prime Minister of Hungary Victor Orban, Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki and leader of the National Rally Marine Le Pen, signed a joint agreement in Madrid, reaffirming their original commitment to aid each other in protecting the sovereignty of their nations.
The signing of this document and the original forming of the political alliance in July 2021, comes in response to the “growing threat” perceived by the ten populist parties “that seeks to transform the [European] Union into an ideologically charged federalist superstate”.
The attendees of the Spanish summit, which was hosted by Vox leader Santiago Abascal, said that the encroachment of Brussels is detrimental to European “democracy” and claimed it could represent the “downfall” of Europe.
In the document titled “the basis for common cultural and political work, respecting the role of current political groups”, the ten parties highlighted their concerns about Brussels’ “imposed ideologies” that lacked “democratic legitimacy”.
The document referenced the EU’s “politically motivated attacks” on Poland and Hungary for taking a hardline approach on illegal immigration and LGBT issues as evidence of the EU overreaching their jurisdiction.
The delegates also pledged to campaign to encourage European institutions to “safeguard” not “criticise” the “constitutional identities” of member states.
This promise is most likely in response to the €70 million fine the European Union has demanded from Poland for its implementation of a disciplinary chamber for judges, which the EU’s Court of Justice claimed did not comply with EU rules. Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal has suggested that the EU’s decision is a violation of Poland’s constitution, which Polish courts ruled is the supreme law in their country. Poland has refused to pay the fine as of yet.
The EU Commission has also been threatening to withhold coronavirus stimulus cash from Poland and Hungary over so-called “rule of law” disputes.
Alongside national sovereignty, European “demographic decline” and immigration were major concerns for the delegates. To combat this, the attendees agreed to “denounce the immigration policy promoted by Brussels” which they asserted “had disastrous effects in Europe”. They additionally agreed to campaign for the “return of all immigrants” who enter the EU illegally to their country of origin.
The populist coalition also demanded reform of the European asylum seeker system suggesting illegal migrants should remain interned within the nation they attempt to claim asylum in and only be authorized to enter the European “common area” once their asylum claim has been approved.
A desire to change the current legal system surrounding foreign offenders was also put forward at the conference. The parties that signed the agreement now plan to “urge European and national institutions to sign agreements with third countries so that migrants found guilty by a court serve their sentence in their country of origin”.
The conference attendees also pledged to join “forces” and have better “coordination” when voting on specific issues in the European Parliament, to ensure that they have a better chance of resisting what they perceive to be European federalism.
