The head of the socialist list for the European elections Raphaël Glucksmann held a meeting on Saturday in Perpignan, a city held by the National Rally (RN), calling for it to be made “the capital of resistance to the extreme right in Europe”. It was “fundamental for us, for me personally, to come here to Perpignan to tell you just one thing: you are not alone. The National Rally wanted to make Perpignan its capital, we must make Perpignan the capital of the resistance to the extreme right in Europe”, launched Raphaël Glucksmann, in front of around 200 to 300 people gathered in front of the Castillet, an emblematic monument in the heart of the Catalan city.
The candidate denounced the “tartuffery” of the leaders of the European extreme right who “call themselves patriots, say that they defend the interests of Europeans and (…) in the institutions, vote against everything which allows them to defend French and Europeans.
Meeting with the Italian writer Antonio Scurati
During his visit to Perpignan, Raphaël Glucksmann met the Italian writer Antonio Scurati, who came to receive the Mare Nostrum prize, rewarding literary works from the Mediterranean world, for the third part of his fresco “M” on the rise and reign of Benito Mussolini in Italy. At the end of April, the reading of a text by the writer denouncing the incapacity of the far-right government of Giorgia Meloni to “deny the fascist experience as a whole”, planned by RAI, Italian public television, was canceled at the last moment. This cancellation sparked an avalanche of criticism and accusations of censorship against the government.
Questioned by AFP on the sidelines of this prize, the writer estimated that “all democratic sensibilities, left, center or right should consider the European election as a fundamental moment”. The future of democracy in each of the countries of the Union is being played out on a European scale and, believes the intellectual, “if the great idea of the founding fathers of a federation of European States creating a new political entity declines, then in each country, democracy will continue to deteriorate, to decline”, as “is already the case in Italy”.
A victory for far-right parties in the European elections will not lead to the suppression of democracy, but “to a weakening, to a qualitative deterioration of democratic life”, says Antonio Scurati for whom Giorgia Meloni, despite a speech less radical since coming to power, remains fundamentally anti-European.