Before the European elections, Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini is gathering everything from right-wing populist to right-wing extremist in Florence. The AfD is also represented by its chairman Chrupalla. The speeches make it clear how extreme the views are – and how big the hurdles are to a common alliance.
The meeting point for Europe’s right-wing populist and right-wing radical party representatives was well chosen. Almost 2,000 of them gathered undisturbed in the Fortezza da Basso fortress on Sunday, while counter-demonstrators marched through the streets of Florence outside. Host Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy head of government and chairman of the national-populist Lega, had a different symbolism in mind with the venue: “Florence is the cradle of the Renaissance,” said Salvini about the city on the Arno River, Europe’s signpost from the supposed darkness of the Middle Ages . He has his own kind of renaissance (‘rebirth’) in mind for next year’s European elections: Salvini spoke of freeing the temple in Brussels from the current “unauthorized” rulers.
This should be achieved by the parties that belong to the Identity and Democracy group in the EU Parliament, as well as other spiritual allies who were present at meetings under the title “Free Europe – work, security and common sense”: These included representatives of the right-wing nationalist and -extreme parties from Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Austria and of course Germany: The co-chair of the AfD, Tino Chrupalla, traveled to Florence for his party.
Chrupalla sees Germany on the brink
In his speech, Chrupalla spoke, among other things, about the security allegedly threatened by migrants and about the jobs threatened by the Green Deal. The Europe that the AfD stands for is a “house with many apartments in which everyone can live as they wish and can do whatever they want.” There will also be a large garden for the children and “a wall to keep the unwanted out,” Chrupalla said.
He called for an end to military support for Ukraine. Kiev “could not win” the war against Russia, while the Germans paid the price of this conflict. The sanctions against Russia have so far only resulted in the “Russian economy growing”, while the German economy is going down the drain, more and more bankruptcies are being filed and companies are relocating. Chrupalla’s listeners learned about a Germany on the edge of the abyss. At the end of his speech, Chrupalla apologized for German EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, whom he described as “the most dangerous politician in the EU.”
A similar speech was given by the Austrian Harald Vilimsky from the FPÖ, who stopped when he criticized not only support for Ukraine, but also solidarity with Israel in the current war against Hamas. “I think that’s wrong,” he said. In the days after the Hamas attack on October 7th, Chrupalla also surprised his own party with a one-sided appeal for peace to Israel.
Lots of radical speeches
As radical as these theses sound, they were almost moderate compared to other appearances at Salvini’s right-wing conference. Some speakers in the Renaissance city take their listeners back to the Middle Ages. Georg Simion, chairman of the Romanian Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), said the European Union is “hell. Hell because of deindustrialization; hell because national identities are being destroyed; hell because of the decay of Christianity . We are forbidden to use terms like mother, father and Christmas.” He described Commission President von der Leyen and her former deputy Frans Timmermans as two “crazy people, two sick people who want to build a European superstate.”
Roman Fritz, vice-chairman of the right-wing extremist Confederation of the Polish Crown, greeted those present with a “Laudetur Jesus Christ” and then launched a verbal crusade against gender, the Green Deal and, like Simonis, called for a return to Christian values.
MEP Gerolf Annemans, from the Belgian Vlaams Belang party, again denounced liberalism, describing it as “a dragon with many heads”. But this dragon can be defeated with combined forces. Liberalism and globalization have failed, now we have to “fight against the new liberalism and multilateralism that they want to force on us.”
Contrary to what the left-wing media writes, we are neither radical nor anti-European radical, but “we are the normal ones,” said Martin Helme, chairman of the nationalist Eesti Konservatiivne Rahvaerakond (EKR). “We are fighting against liberalism, which has brought so much misery; we are fighting against transgenderism. We are the normal people who belong to the right.”
The stars of the right stay away
Salvini had actually also invited Marine Le Pen, founder and member of the right-wing extremist Rassemblement National (RN), as well as the Dutchman Geert Wilders, whose Party voor de Vrijheid (PVV) emerged as the strongest in the election almost two weeks ago. They would have significantly enhanced the meeting. But both canceled and instead sent a short video message. As for Marine Le Pen, it was said that she wasn’t coming because she was already fully focused on the French presidential election campaign, even though it doesn’t take place until 2027; Wilders, in turn, because talks to form a government were ongoing in the Netherlands.
After all, Le Pen sent her party’s young leader, Jordan Bardella, to Florence. He was in good spirits with a view to the outcome of the European elections at the beginning of June: “Everywhere in Europe, citizens are raising their heads again, as the Netherlands has shown. Citizens have found their voice again,” said Bardella.
Salvini’s dream
At the end, Salvini tried to bring what was said to a common denominator. According to the Lega leader, he is aware of the peculiarities that each party brings with it. “I dream of an alliance and not of a barracks.” But it’s certainly true that he wasn’t really happy about one or two speeches. Salvini actually dreams of an alliance of all parties to the right of center so that in the EU elections he can finally drive away “the socialists and the left” from what he sees as the unlawfully occupied throne in Brussels.
The Identity and Democracy group, which includes Lega, RN and AfD, could theoretically form a majority in the European Parliament with the European conservatives and reformers, including Georgia Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia, Poland’s PiS and Spain’s Vox, and the European People’s Party (EPP). . The EPP includes the CDU and CSU, which are a long way from such an alliance. The situation is different for Viktor Orban’s party, which also belongs to the EPP.
Salvini does not want to give up the dream of an overarching alliance. Salvini is deputy prime minister and infrastructure minister in a coalition made up of Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia, Salvini’s Lega and Forza Italia. The party of the late Silvio Berlusconi belongs to the EPP. The government in Rome is bringing together all three European factions from the center-right to the extreme right. Salvini says: “The government in Rome proves that such an alliance can work.”