Against the background of the upcoming elections to the European Parliament and the projected growth in the number of Euroskeptics among fractions, Poland has found an unexpected ally in the face of Italy.

Recently, Rome has taken a position very similar to Warsaw regarding the reception of refugees from African countries. The politicians of both countries are convinced that Europe needs to resist the influx of illegal migrants and expel the refugees who are illegally in the territory of the alliance.

Therefore, we can consider the recent visit of the Vice-Premier of Italy Matteo Salvini to Warsaw, where he had successful negotiations with the Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the actual beginning of the election campaign of European right-wing populists.

Issues of refusal to accept migrants were also discussed during negotiations with Joachim Brugin. The Minister said that “in Europe, there are proposals to accept regular migrants from regular ships, which are transported by smugglers, non-governmental organizations. This is a huge problem. For example, several people from North Africa are detained in Italy today. One of the detainees is accused of terrorism”.

General views on migration policy are equally beneficial for politicians of both countries in the light of the forthcoming elections to the European Parliament in May. With common interests, parties can form a right-wing coalition. A similar opportunity was announced by the Italian newspaper La Republica and a number of other European media.

Currently, the number of members of the European Parliament is 751 deputies. All deputies are divided into seven political groups. At the same time, the two largest represent alliances of right-wing and center-left conservative parties – social democrats and advocate the traditional alignment of political forces in Europe. For the far right, their own faction first appeared after the last elections in 2009. At the same time, a group of “European Conservatives and Reformists” appeared, consisting mainly of members of the Law and Justice Party and representatives of the British Conservatives. And in 2015, part of the deputies of the Austrian Freedom Party, the French National Front and the Italian League of the North, together with their colleagues, formed the Europe of Nations and Freedoms (ENF) group.

The Polish newspaper Dziennik calculated that in the event of a merger of the last two parties, they would gain about 200 votes – along with representatives of the Danish People’s Party, Spanish right-wing populists Vox and the Austrian Freedom Party.

Such a union would allow the group to take the second or third position in terms of their number among the factions of the European Parliament.

One of the main obstacles in this direction is the fundamentally different position of Italy and Poland on the issue of relations with Russia. If Law and Justice expresses a clear anti-Russian stance, then Matteo Salvini has repeatedly spoken in favor of building friendly relations with Moscow and expressed support for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Before the elections to the European Parliament, it remains about four months, and this gives the party a certain time to reach compromises. The formation of a powerful faction will strengthen its position in the EU and force the authorities of Brussels to listen to their opinion. And for Warsaw this would now be extremely important. Considering that Poland’s interests are infringed and the country is on the verge of secession from the European Union.

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