Far-right European leaders attended a rally by Italy’s far-right League party in its northern heartland in Pontida on Sunday.
Matteo Salvini, who leads The League and is also Italy’s deputy prime minister, was joined by his most anticipated guest, Hungary’s far-right prime minister Viktor Orbán. Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders also attended as did Marlene Svazek of the FPO Freedom Party, which just won the elections in Austria.
Salvini faced a legal case over his extreme anti-immigration stance when he was Italy’s interior minister.
Prosecutors in Sicily have asked for a six-year prison sentence for Salvini over his decision to prevent a ship carrying more than 100 migrants from landing in Lampedusa in 2019.
A conviction, which in Italy is definitive only at the end of a three-stage judicial process, could also see Salvini barred from holding government office.
Salvini: “Revoke the citizenship of those who commit crimes”
Addressing the rally Salvini called on immigrants to lose their citizenship if they committed crimes and he defended his anti-migrant stance.
“The problem is not the colour of your skin or where the good Lord made you be born. However, the recipe for the next few years is not to grant more citizenships or to give them away as quickly as possible. The priority, for the Northern League, is to revoke the citizenship of those who commit crimes, ” he said.
He also commented on clashes in Rome on Saturday between pro-Palestinian protesters and police, blaming the protesters and the left.
“According to some on the left, today there was a gathering of extremists. But extremism has two faces: one is the extremism focused on money, and the other is Islamic extremism, which is the cancer of the Earth in 2024, and we must do everything to eradicate it.”
Orbán: “Brussels must be occupied and taken away from bureaucrats”
The most anticipated guest at the rally was greeted with shouts and applause from the audience.
“We in Hungary celebrate Salvini as a hero because he closed the borders and defended the homes of Italians,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told them.
“Salvini also defended Europe and deserves an honour, not legal proceedings. The one underway is a disgrace,” said Orbán, who then threatened once again to bring illegal immigrants to Brussels if the EU did not act.
“If they continue to punish us, then we will take the migrants from Budapest to Brussels, let them keep them” – Orbán continued – “Brussels is punishing Hungary, we have paid millions of euros, and every day we spend them to keep the migrants out. They are punishing us because we defend Europe and this is a shame, the shame of Brussels”.
“We must not leave Europe but enter it by force. Brussels must be occupied, taken away from the bureaucrats and given back to the European people,” the Hungarian prime minister continued, and concluded: “We will take back Brussels’ politics and make Europe rich and free. We, the patriots, will be able to do it”.
Far-right leaders describe Salvini as being “persecuted”
The president of France’s National Rally, Jordan Bardella, sent a video message to the rally that also defended Salvini.
“Salvini is attacked by the left because he did his job and protected Italy’s borders. There is a reversal of values: these left-wing NGOs, accomplices of migrant and human traffickers, should be sitting in the dock today, not Matteo”, he said.
In his address Andrè Ventura, a member of parliament for Chega, the Portuguese right-wing party, spoke of Salvini being “persecuted.”
“Matteo Salvini is persecuted because he continues to believe that this country must be protected. We all must defend it and we need more Salvinis, throughout Europe.”
And the leader of the Dutch far-right, Geert Wilders, echoed Ventura: “Salvini is a virtuous man for the battle against the tsunami of mass illegal immigration that makes us foreigners in our own home.”
“Matteo, everyone here loves you. When you are in court you will be our hero. We are with you, that’s why we are here. Long live Matteo Salvini, go your own way, follow your own path, we will never abandon you, you will never be alone,” Wilders concluded.
For more on this story watch the video report above from our correspondent in Pontida, Giorgia Orlandi.
