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| - The prime ministers of Hungary, Italy and Poland on Thursday agreed the broad lines of a new political alliance, to the right of the main conservative EPP grouping in the European parliament. Fresh from his party's exit out of the centre-right European People's Party (EPP), nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban hosted his populist counterparts from Italy and Poland to explore new alliances. "We are going to launch a new platform, an organisation, a process which will give those citizens who believe in a traditional Europe the representation that they deserve," Orban said ahead of the meeting with Polish counterpart Mateusz Morawiecki and Italian populist Matteo Salvini in Budapest. After the meeting Orban hailed "the first step of a long road together". "We have agreed to continue the work, we will meet in May, either in Rome or in Warsaw, the date will depend on the pandemic" of Covid-19, the Hungarian leader told a joint news conference. At his side, Salvini, leader of the far-right League in Italy, spoke of a "path which begins today and which will continue in several stages in different European capitals, expanding the group". "We present ourselves as the historic and founding core" of this alliance, promising "hope" after "the darkest period" since World War II, Salvini added, though no one was talking at this stage about rejigging the European parties. Polish PM Morawiecki said the plan was to represent "a wide spectrum of opinions and people". He advocated "European integration... which respects national sovereignty, the family, Christianity" and the defence of "traditional" values. Orban's Fidesz party left the EPP this month, two weeks after walking out of the alliance's group in the European Parliament. The move put an end to years of debate inside the EPP about whether Fidesz should be allowed to remain given the frequent accusations levelled at Orban of undermining the rule of law. Since then, in his search for new allies Orban has turned to Morawiecki's Law and Justice (PiS) party, as well as the stridently anti-immigration and eurosceptic Salvini. However, PiS and Salvini's League belong to different European political groupings. Salvini said on Tuesday that the talks would aim at the "creation of a common charter of values, principles and objectives". He said that if non-EPP right-wing forces were to group together they could constitute the second largest grouping in the European Parliament -- after the EPP itself -- and wield significant influence. Birmingham University political scientist Daniele Albertazzi said it was "not unrealistic" that PiS, Fidesz and Salvini's League could form a common European Parliament grouping, adding: "There are strong practical and financial incentives to do it." He added that this could happen despite the lack of ideological cohesion between right-wing forces on some issues. "They may say similar things on the EU, that it has too much power, but when it comes to things like sharing asylum seekers... the (Dutch) PVV and Orban have very different interests from Salvini," Albertazzi said. Morawiecki also hinted that his preference was for the League and Fidesz to join the PiS's European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) grouping. The ECR "defends common sense and normality very well," Morawiecki said. The Italian League is part of the right-wing populist Europe of Nations and Freedom (ENL) grouping. Previous attempts to unite nationalist and far-right political forces in the European parliament have ended in failure. Immediately after the meeting in Budapest, EPP leader of the EPP, the Polish Donald Tusk, tweeted: "Russia is mobilising its forces around Ukraine.... In Budapest, Morawiecki is organizing with Orban and Salvini a pro-Putin political bloc. This is not an April Fool." sw-aa-mg-bg/pvh/har
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