Salvini invites EU enemies to summit

Salvini invites EU enemies to summit - Chrupalla is there

Ahead of the European elections, Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini is gathering everything from the populist right to the far right 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 for a common alliance.

The meeting place for Europe's right-wing populist and radical right-wing 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 leader of the national-populist Lega, had a different symbolism in mind for the venue: "Florence is the cradle of the Renaissance," said Salvini about the city on the River Arno, Europe's guidepost out of the supposed darkness of the Middle Ages. He has his very own kind of Renaissance ('rebirth') in mind for next year's European elections: Salvini spoke of ridding the temple in Brussels of its current 'unauthorized' rulers.

The parties belonging to the Identity and Democracy Group in the EU Parliament, as well as other allies in spirit, who were present at meetings entitled "Free Europe - Work, Security and Common Sense", should succeed in doing so: These included representatives of right-wing nationalist and far-right parties from Belgium, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Austria and, of course, Germany: the co-chair of the AfD, Tino Chrupalla, had traveled to Florence on behalf of his party.

Chrupalla sees Germany on the brink

In his speech, Chrupalla spoke, among other things, about the security allegedly endangered by migrants and the jobs threatened by the Green Deal. The Europe that the AfD stands for, he said, is a "house with many apartments where everyone can live as they wish and do as they please." There would also be a large garden for the children and "a wall to keep out the undesirables", said Chrupalla.

He called for an end to military support for Ukraine. Kiev could "not win" the war against Russia, while the Germans were paying the price for this conflict. The sanctions against Russia have so far only led to the "Russian economy growing", while the German economy is going down the drain, more and more insolvencies are being registered and companies are moving away. Chrupalla's audience heard about a Germany on the brink of the abyss. At the end of his speech, Chrupalla apologized for the 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 Austrian Harald Vilimsky from the FPÖ, who stopped when he criticized not only the support for Ukraine, but also the solidarity with Israel in the current war against Hamas. "I think that's wrong," he said. In the days following the Hamas attack on October 7, Chrupalla had also surprised even his own party with a unilateral appeal for peace with Israel.

Plenty of radical speeches

As radical as these theses sound, they were almost moderate compared to other speeches at Salvini's far-right conference. Some speakers in the Renaissance city transported their audience back to the Middle Ages. Georg Simion, chairman of the Romanian Alliance for the Union of Romanians (AUR), said that the European Union was "hell. Hell, because of deindustrialization; hell, because national identities are being destroyed; hell, because of the disintegration 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 "madmen, two sick people who want to build a European superstate".

Roman Fritz, vice-chairman of the far-right Confederation of the Polish Crown, greeted those present with a "Laudetur Jesus Christus" and then launched a verbal crusade against gender stereotyping and the Green Deal and, like Simonis, called for a return to Christian values.

MEP Gerolf Annemans, from the Belgian party Vlaams Belang, again denounced liberalism, describing it as "a dragon with many heads". However, this dragon could be defeated by joining forces. Liberalism and globalization had failed, now we had to "fight against the new liberalism and multilateralism that they want to impose on us".

Contrary to what the left-wing media say, 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 the liberalism that 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 MP of the far-right Rassemblement National (RN), as well as Dutchman Geert Wilders, whose Party for Freedom (PVV) emerged as the strongest party in the election just under two weeks ago. They would have significantly enhanced the meeting. However, both canceled and sent a short video message instead. Marine Le Pen said she would not be coming because she was already fully focused on the French presidential election campaign, although this will not take place until 2027; Wilders, on the other hand, because talks were underway in the Netherlands to form a government.

Nevertheless, Le Pen sent the young leader of her party, Jordan Bardella, to Florence. He was upbeat about the outcome of the European elections at the beginning of June: "Everywhere in Europe, citizens are raising their heads again, as the Netherlands has also shown. Citizens have found their voice again," said Bardella.

Salvini's dream

In the end, Salvini tried to reduce what had been said to a common denominator. He was aware of the peculiarities that each party brings with it, said the Lega leader. "I also dream of an alliance and not a barracks." However, it is certainly true that he was not really delighted with one or two of the speeches. Salvini is actually dreaming of an alliance of all parties to the right of center in order to finally chase "the socialists and leftists" from what he sees as an illegitimate throne in Brussels in the EU elections.

The Identity and Democracy Group, to which the Lega, RN and AfD belong, could theoretically form a majority in the European Parliament with the European Conservatives and Reformists, including Georgia Meloni's Fratelli d'Italia, the Polish PiS and Spain's Vox, and the European People's Party (EPP). The EPP includes the CDU and CSU, which are far removed 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 of a coalition consisting 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 thus brings together all three European factions from the center-right to the far right. Salvini says: "The government in Rome proves that such an alliance can work."