Rzeczpospolita draws attention to the PiS’s alliance with the AfD, who wrote that the German far-right party joined the group as early as December 2019, but it escaped the attention of the Polish media. Three years earlier, the AfD left the political group in the European Parliament, which was jointly with PiS.
The Council of Europe is an organization, independent of the European Union, associating 47 states and aiming to protect human rights and democracy in the Old Continent. Its seat is in Strasbourg, France, and the Parliamentary Assembly is one of its main organs.
Parliamentarians from different member states are grouped in several groups. Law and Justice belongs to the European Conservatives and the Democratic Alliance, jointly incl. with the British Tories, or the extreme right parties from Spain and Austria – VOX and FPO, as well as with the German AfD.
The Alternative for Germany was created in 2013, openly proclaiming its aversion to the European Union and immigrants. Its leaders relativized the Nazi past of their country, including arguing that Germany should be proud of the achievements of the Wehrmacht and that Hitler is just “a little history”. The party is also known for its pro-Russian stance, and its delegation visited the Kremlin in December, where it expressed the opinion that the construction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline “must be completed at all costs”.
– The Assembly has a slightly different field of activity than the European Parliament. There are 47 countries in it, including Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and the post-Soviet countries. Each of the major parties belongs to one of the groups of the Council of Europe. If he submits an ideological or political declaration, there are unlikely any obstacles to its adoption, says Arkadiusz Mularczyk, PiS MP and vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, to Rzeczpospolita.
Sources: “Rzeczpospolita”
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