Jordan Bardella, the 30-year-old leader of France's far-right National Rally (Rassemblement National) and current frontrunner in polls for the 2027 presidential election, used a two-day visit to Poland to outline his vision for a fundamentally different European Union. Speaking alongside Jarosław Kaczyński, leader of Poland's Law and Justice (PiS) party, Bardella declared that if both movements win their respective national elections, they will have the opportunity to redirect the EU's trajectory.
“I am convinced that over the course of the year 2027, if our two movements achieve electoral victories, we will have the opportunity — because France and Poland are two major powers in Europe — to redirect the way the European Union operates, as I often say, to change everything without destroying anything,” Bardella said during a joint press conference in Warsaw.
Bardella's trip, which included a visit to the Polish-Belarusian border near Kuźnica Białostocka, was designed to strengthen ties with like-minded nationalist and conservative parties across the continent. He met with representatives of the Confederation and the National Movement, as well as with Kaczyński, whose PiS party governed Poland from 2015 to 2023 and remains a key force in the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group.
A Shared Agenda: Migration, Green Deal, and Sovereignty
The French politician explicitly called for putting “the Commission and the EU back at the service of the nations and no longer the other way around.” He praised Poland's border security measures, which were introduced under the PiS government to curb migration pressure from Belarus. “By defending one of Europe's external borders, Poland is in fact defending the whole of European civilisation, protecting our values and our identity in the face of one of the greatest threats of the 21st century,” Bardella wrote on X.
Bardella also voiced strong opposition to the European Green Deal, which he argued harms French and Polish industries and farmers. He noted that the ECR group and the Patriots for Europe alliance jointly opposed the MERCOSUR trade agreement, which he described as detrimental to European agriculture. This stance aligns with the growing discontent among European farmers, a theme that has resonated in French politics and was visible in recent protests.
Kaczyński, for his part, framed a Bardella victory as a turning point for the continent. “This will be a decisive step towards building in Poland and across Europe a coalition capable of changing the EU,” he said. “We share the view that the EU should continue to exist, but that it should serve the nations — their freedom, sovereignty and development. Today — we have to say it plainly — it does not. And this is a state of affairs that has to end.”
The Polish leader also drew parallels between the experiences of PiS and the National Rally, noting that both parties have faced intense opposition. “We have had a hard time; we have been attacked from all sides by very different methods, often very brutal ones. That resilience will certainly be useful to us, because the battle ahead of us will be very tough, but I am convinced that in the end there will be victory,” Kaczyński said.
Bardella's visit comes as Poland prepares for its own parliamentary elections, expected in autumn 2026, and as the National Rally seeks to build a broader European coalition ahead of the 2027 French vote. The French politician has previously met with Polish nationalist leaders in Warsaw and has also courted the far-right Vlaams Belang in Brussels, signaling a concerted effort to unite nationalist forces across the EU.
During his border visit, Bardella was accompanied by Anna Bryłka, vice-president of the National Movement and a Member of the European Parliament. She noted that Poland remains a target for illegal migration and that the barrier on the border with Belarus has shifted the route through Lithuania and Latvia. Since the beginning of 2026, the Polish Border Guard has transferred more than 550 migrants to Lithuania and detained nearly 60 couriers facilitating illegal crossings.
The alliance between Bardella and Kaczyński underscores a broader realignment in European politics, where nationalist and conservative parties are increasingly coordinating on issues of migration, sovereignty, and opposition to EU climate and trade policies. Whether this coalition can translate into electoral victories in both France and Poland — and then into tangible changes in Brussels — remains to be seen, but the rhetoric from Warsaw was unequivocal: “We are heading for victory,” Kaczyński declared.
