Representatives from the EU Parliament’s third-largest political group attended the League party’s annual gathering where migration and border protection topped the agenda.
It was both a show of strength and support for Matteo Salvini.
On Sunday, leaders of political forces within the EU Parliament’s far-right nationalist ‘Patriots for Europe’ group came to the 36th annual gathering of the League party in Pontida.
As they took to the stage under the slogan ‘defending borders is not a crime’, they stood by the Italian party leader’s side, who is facing six years in prison in the ongoing Open Arms trial.
Surrounded by fellow League party members, Salvini attacked Italian prosecutors for charging him after he refused to allow 147 migrants to disembark in Italy when he was Interior Minister in 2019.
Palermo prosecutors accuse Salvini of dereliction of duty and kidnapping for having refused to allow the Open Arms ship and its passengers to dock in Italy for 19 days.
During the standoff, some of the migrants threw themselves overboard in desperation as the captain pleaded for a safe, close port.
The remaining 89 people onboard were finally permitted to disembark in Lampedusa by a court order on August 20.
Salvini said, “nobody can stop the sacred alliance of the European people that is born today in Pontida. I love you all and I promise: I don’t and will never give up.”
In attendance were other right-wing European politicians from the President of Portugal’s CHEGA party, André Ventura, to Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Migration topped the agenda, along with the call for Europe to change its course.
“Hungary celebrates Salvini as a hero because he closed the borders and protected Italian homes. He needs an award, not to be put on trial,” Orbán said on stage.
“Europe should be able to take clear decisions as Matteo Salvini did,” said vice-president of Austria’s Freedom Party, Marlene Svazek.
José Antonio Fúster, spokesperson for the Spanish party Vox, said that an alliance of “European patriots” is the only solution.
“Together we are stronger,” he said.
Jordan Bardella, the president of France’s National Rally sent a video message, as did Brazil’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro.
But the Pontida meeting was also a chance for the League party leader to rally support and counter his party’s declining ratings.
Salvini has already launched a petition in his defence which has garnered 100,000 signatures, with more expected to be collected in Pontida.
Supporters who signed the petition were given a special membership card from the League party.
“Signatures help Italians understand what should be done when migrants arrive in Italy,” said one man.
“I am not saying we are being invaded but we are going through critical times and Salvini did the right thing and did it well.”
Whether or not Salvini’s support for Patriots for Europe, the third-largest group in the EU Parliament, could distance him from Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who heads the European Conservatives and Reformists group, is too early to say.
