Bielan takes over as ECR leader after Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland’s former prime minister, resigned from the post amid a political standoff at home. Polish MEP Adam Bielan has been elected the new leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) party, an alliance of right-wing parties in Europe. The ECR Party announced Bielan’s election on Saturday, saying his presidency would focus on “advancing a political alternative based on national sovereignty, security, economic competitiveness and respect for Europe’s identity.” A prominent member of Poland’s right-wing opposition Law and Justice (PiS), Bielan has led its delegation in the European Parliament since 2024. The 51-year-old politician takes over as ECR leader after Mateusz Morawiecki, Poland’s former prime minister, resigned from the position in late July following a political standoff with the PiS leadership at home. The European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) is a pan-European political alliance that unites conservative, right-wing, and eurosceptic parties across Europe. Alongside PiS, its primary members include Italy's Brothers of Italy, the Sweden Democrats, and the Civic Democratic Party of the Czech Republic. New leader Bielan said the ECR’s main goal under his leadership would be to make gains in the next European Parliament elections, which are due to be held in 2029. “We are currently the fourth-largest group in the European Parliament in terms of the number of MEPs. We want to be an even larger group after the elections,” he was quoted as saying by Poland’s state news agency PAP. He also added that the EU is in need of deep changes. “Today, we see that many EU citizens are recognizing what we have been warning about for years, including the enormous costs of poorly designed climate policies and the problems linked to migration,” he told PAP. Political standoff Bielan’s new role in the European Parliament comes amid a rivalry in Polish politics over who will lead the country’s political right. In July, Mateusz Morawiecki, who served as Poland’s prime minister from 2017 to 2023 under PiS, stepped down as ECR president, saying he needed to focus more fully on the challenges facing Poland domestically. His resignation followed an internal power struggle with PiS’s longtime leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, over the party’s direction and its future leadership. In August, Morawiecki and his allies were expelled from PiS after forming a new parliamentary caucus, in what was seen as the most serious split on the Polish right in years. The expulsions came after Morawiecki and his supporters refused to renounce their membership in the political movement Development Plus, which Morawiecki founded.
