The Italian Deputy Prime Minister, Matteo Salvini, head of the anti-migrant League, gathered his far-right European allies in Florence on Sunday, December 3, in the notable absence of Geert Wilders, winner of the legislative elections in the Netherlands, and of the leader of the French National Rally, Marine Le Pen.
This show in the Tuscan capital, called “Liberate Europe!” Jobs, safety, common sense »was intended to put in battle order the elected representatives of the Identity and Democracy (ID) group in the European Parliament, which includes the League, the National Rally (RN) and the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, with a view to elections to the European Parliament in June.
“Today in Florence men and women with common sense and courage are gathered who will defeat an enemy who is the first enemy of Europe, the freemason technocrats who want to destroy the identity of our continent”affirmed Mr. Salvini from the podium.
This meeting also had an internal political dimension for the League against the far-right Fratelli d’Italia party of the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, ally but above all great rival of Salvini, who on the other hand is part of the Conservatives and Reformists group. Europeans with the Spaniards of Vox and the Poles of the Law and Justice party (PiS). Speakers from delegations from a dozen European countries took turns at the podium for two hours to defend their vision.
Diatribe against Ursula von der Leyen
Initially announced as coming to Florence, the two leaders of the most important parties in the group with the League, Marine Le Pen, in search of de-demonization in France, and Alice Weidel, in full rise in the polls, snubbed the meeting, as did the leader of the Freedom Party (PVV), Geert Wilders.
The AfD sent its co-president Tino Chrupalla, while Mme Le Pen and Mr. Wilders provided a minimum service by sending a video message. In his, Mme Le Pen launched a diatribe against Ursula von der Leyen, accused of “reduce Europe to a market” and who at the head of the Commission “acts against our people and our freedoms”.
MEP Jordan Bardella, president of the RN and one of the vice-presidents of the ID group, responded and gave a speech in Italian, recalling the Italian origins of his family. “It is because we love Europe that we fight the policies led by the European Union”he said.