Populist leaders meet in Warsaw to discuss European Union

By VANESSA GERA
Associated Press

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — The leaders of right-wing populist parties are meeting in Warsaw to discuss working together to bring change to the European Union. The head of Poland’s Law and Justice party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski, is hosting Saturday’s gathering. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, French far-right leader Marine Le Pen and the leader of Spain’s Vox party, Santiago Abascal, attended. Kaczynski’s welcome of Le Pen marks a change for Poland’s ruling conservatives, who long refused to cooperate with her due to her warm relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin. But Europe’s right-wing populists share antipathy for the EU, which they accuse of eroding the traditions and powers of the bloc’s 27 member nations.