Today at noon, following the inauguration of the Conference on the Future of Europe in Strasbourg, in over a dozen European capitals, the leaders of right-wing parties presented a statement in which they stress that the European Union requires deep reform because today, instead of protecting Europe and its heritage, it is itself becoming a source of problems and anxiety. The document was signed in several European capitals, among others, by Jarosław Kaczyński (Law and Justice, Poland), Giorgia Meloni (Brothers of Italy), Santiago Abascal (VOX, Spain), Viktor Orbán (Fidesz, Hungary), Matteo Salvini (Lega, Italy), Marine le Pen (RN, France) and several other right-wing parties from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece and Lithuania. "The cooperation of European nations should be based on tradition, respect for the culture and history of European states, respect for Europe's Judeo-Christian heritage and the common values that unite our nations, and not on their destruction," the signatories point out.

Leaders of right-wing parties emphasise that the document is a response to the beginning of the debate on the future of Europe, in which the voice of parties attached to the freedom and traditions of European nations, representing citizens attached to European traditions, cannot be missing.

In the document they underline that the use of political structures and the law to create a European superstate and new social structures is a manifestation of the dangerous and invasive social engineering known from the past, which must provoke legitimate resistance. "The moralistic overactivity that we have seen in recent years in the EU institutions has resulted in a dangerous tendency to impose an ideological monopoly," reads the statement.

The signatories of the document point out that the aim of their cooperation is a profound reform of the European Union through a return to the ideas which lay at its foundation, with a sovereign role for European nations. They also draw attention to the declining trust of EU citizens in its institutions, which is the result of the consistent reinterpetration of the content of the Treaties by these institutions and increasingly frequent disputes over competences with the Member States.  "In order to stop and reverse this trend, it is necessary to create, in addition to the existing principle of conferral, a set of inviolable competences of the European Union's member states, and an appropriate mechanism for their protection with the participation of national constitutional courts or equivalent bodies. All attempts to transform European institutions into bodies that take precedence over national constitutional institutions create chaos, undermine the sense of the treaties, question the fundamental role of Member States' constitutions, and the resulting disputes over competences are in effect settled by the brutal imposition of the will of politically stronger entities on weaker ones. This destroys the basis for the functioning of the European community as a community of free nations," reads the statement.

The leaders of the right-wing parties point to the numerous challenges facing the European Union, for example in the area of demography, and underline the crucial importance of pro-family policies in curbing negative trends. "In the member countries there is still an overwhelming will to cooperate, and a spirit of community and friendship pervades nations and societies of our continent. It is our great capital. A reformed Union will make use of this capital, whereas a Union that rejects reform will squander it," they add, and they encourage all parties and groupings that share their views to work together.

A conference of signatories of the letter is planned in Warsaw for September as a follow-up to the initiative announced today.