Manfred Weber, president of the center-right European People’s Party to which von der Leyen belongs, had previously said the party was opposed to working with any group that wasn’t “pro-Europe … pro-Ukraine … [and] pro-rule of law.”
In Meloni’s case, the Brothers of Italy politician has moderated her anti-EU positions since taking power, giving EPP leaders cover. But the same cannot be said for Orbán or Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, who embraces Putin and routinely attacks EU ally Ukraine. As for Kickl, diplomats said he is a “strict ideologue” who may prove harder to manage than Orbán, even if the Austrian leader would theoretically be constrained by a coalition agreement.
“What happened to Jörg Haider can no longer happen anymore, that we’re going to draw a quarantine around these people,” said Frank Furedi, executive director of Orbán-backed think tank MCC Brussels.
For Milan Nic, senior research fellow at the German Council on Foreign Relations, the growth in the number of right-wing populists at the European Council will have a wider impact on the bloc’s policies.
“Even if you have two or three [populists at the table], it’s a totally different game than everyone ganging up on one,” Nic said. “What unites them is this cynical pragmatic nationalist position where they want an EU à la carte rather than anything coordinated.”
Here, there, everywhere
The eroding firewall is on display at the Commission, where a member of the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists, Meloni ally Raffaele Fitto, was named vice president despite protests from The Left and the Greens.
