During a meeting with Italian prime minister Georgia Meloni in February last year, incoming ECR leader Mateusz Morawiecki referenced JRR Tolkien’s epic fantasy Lord of the Rings novels, stating “we shall defeat Mordor together”.
The former Polish prime minister’s JRR Tolkien-themed references made a return this week, as the two met again. This time, Morawiecki gifted a copy of Tolkien’s book to Meloni, along with a personal inscription saying “Let’s fight the evil together, the light will prevail. We shall defeat Mordor!”
Morawiecki, who is now set to replace Meloni as president or the EU’s conservative ECR (European Conservatives and Reformists) group, was asked by Euronews during a recent trip to Brussels where the fictional evil empire can be found in reality.
He conceded that Mordor can be found in Russia, albeit not exclusively.
“Of course, today Russia under Putin is an evil empire. But there are forces across the European Union which are also destructive, which are fighting the sovereignty of states and trying to centralise power. They are not good for the EU,” Morawiecki said.
“I wouldn’t exactly call them Mordor, because I ultimately do want to cooperate with them, but I want to emphasise that they are not particularly constructive at this point in time.”
This was in reference to a European Parliament proposal which, if applied, would give more powers to the EU over national governments in the bloc.
Morawiecki also denounced attempts to impose a so-called “cordon sanitaire” around right-wing forces in the European Parliament.
“All of a sudden, a new coalition has emerged: The EPP [European People’s Party] plus the conservatives, meaning us, and also the Patriots for Europe. And we are able to make decisions on serious issues. This was not the coalition that voted the current European Commission into office. That aside, we are able to decide on the future of Europe”, he explained.
Morawiecki also spoke about overcoming Polish political political, as the country is experiencing strong partisanship between its main political parties. His own Law and Justice party and governing Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s centre-right Civic Platform clearly don’t see eye to eye.
“Well, I could even cooperate with the devil, as long it is for the good of my country and for the good of the European Union,” Morawiecki says. “Unfortunately, there is a very clear indication that this government does not want to work on improving and repairing the European Union.”
In his interview with Euronews, Morawiecki also slammed the agenda of Poland’s presidency of the Council of the EU, which will be overseen by Donald Tusk for a six-month period starting 1 January 2025.
