Migration Likely To Dominate EU Agenda As Scales Shift Right

Polish PM Mateusz Morawiecki and his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni speaking in Warsaw, with EU migration policy in focus. Morawiecki highlighted the issue for both nations stating that "Poland understands the migration problem. We with Belarus, Ukraine and Russia, Italy in the Mediterranean, and for this we understand each other perfectly". Meloni states "On the migration issue, Italy knows it can count on Poland."

• However, this has not recently been the case. The Polish (and Hungarian) gov'ts refusal to approvethe Meloni-brokered pact on migration at the June EUCO summit highlights the scale of divisionson the political right w/regard to migration. While the parties of the right are in the ascendancy across the bloc, that does not guarantee unity in policy-making.
• The strength of nationalist right-wing parties (currently leading/included in/supportive of gov'ts in Italy, Poland, Hungary, Finland, and Sweden, potentially coming to power in Spain in the near future, and riding high in polls in Germany and Portugal) has seen something of a shift in power and policy making in the EU institutions.
• The centre-right European People's Party bloc, that often worked with centre-left and centrist blocs in the European Parliament, has recently found common ground with the Meloni-backed right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) bloc. With the EP elections approaching in June 2024, the policy-making agenda at the EU level on migration, but also areas such as security and fiscal policy could shift further to the right.