EU far-right extends hand to EPP to ‘free Brussels’

Italy’s far-right League leader Matteo Salvini called on the European People’s Party (EPP) at a meeting of EU far-right parties in Florence to collaborate and “liberate Brussels” from those who “occupy” it illegally.

Salvini, whose party is a junior coalition partner in Italy’s government together with conservative Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy and centre-right Forza Italia, presented himself as a leader whose party belongs to the wider “centre-right”.

He called on the EU centre-right (EPP) to follow the Italian governance example against left-wing and green parties.

“The Italian government is not in question and will govern for five years, the Italians voted for us. I work very well with Giorgia (Meloni) and Antonio (Tajani, Forza Italia/EPP) […] But to the friends of the centre-right, I say: just as we are taking Italy by the hand to bring it back to growth, it would be a fatal mistake to divide the centre-right in Europe”, said Salvini.

Europe’s far-right parties (Identity and Democracy group in the EU Parliament) gathered on Sunday in Florence in what they described as a “historic day”.

“I think today is a historic day because the Renaissance of Europe can see the light, which will be based on work and rights. Europeans will have a choice: freedom on one side and fear on the other; rights and work on one side, extremism on the other,” Salvini said.

“Today in Florence, there are the friends of Europe, the defenders of Europe. Today in Florence, some women and men will defeat a giant who is the first enemy of Europe: The Masonic bureaucratic reality […] We are not afraid”, he added.

“For the first time, a united and determined centre-right can win and free Brussels from those who are occupying it illegally for their interest”, he noted.

After the League’s remarkable success in 2019, the party gradually lost support to Meloni’s party.

More than a year after the general election in Italy, Meloni’s party has grown to 29% while Salvini’s League remains stable at 9.3%. The League hopes to gain the votes of Forza Italia (7.4%), which struggled to keep them after the passing of founder and president Silvio Berlusconi.

According to Euractiv’s partner Europe Elects, the current forecast for the next EU elections in June 2024 suggests that the far-right will have significant gains and is projected to become the fourth largest power in the EU House.

Read more: EU far-right dangerously boosted in new forecast

To form a majority in the EU House, a coalition of parties will need 352 lawmakers. According to the projections, the EU far-right, together with the EPP and the conservative European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), could gather 344 MEPs.

But with some non-attached members, such as the ones from anti-EU Hungary’s Fidesz party, they could reach a slim majority.

However, such a prospect faces severe obstacles within the EPP, especially its liberal fraction.

In an interview with Euractiv in September, EPP Secretary General Thanasis Bakolas ruled out any collaboration with the far-right and ECR.

“I think the EPP, the Socialists, ALDE [liberals], and the Greens are political elements within the EU that have guaranteed our Union is moving forward in the right direction,” Bakolas said.

Read more: EPP boss spurns a right coalition, ‘welcomes’ socialists back to reality

Based on the Europe Elects forecast, a coalition of EPP, Socialists, Liberals, and Greens could bring a safe majority of 457 MEPs isolating far-right forces.

Killing anti-EU rhetoric

Europe’s far-right parties have recently changed their anti-EU narrative, and they now focus on the need to change Europe from within, having migration as their driving force.

Indeed, in her video statement, France’s Marine Le Pen described migration as the “fuel” for the annihilation of peoples’ identity and spoke of an EU Commission that “acts against our peoples and our freedoms”.

For his part, France’s National Rally President Jordan Bardella stressed the need to “take power from within to change everything”.

“We are not against Europe but for Europe. The dream of Europe has been raped by a green and left-wing political class. All those who are critical against this EU must collaborate”, said Belgian Gerolf Annemans, one of Vlaams Belang’s leaders.

Dutch far-right leader Geert Wilders, struggling to form a government after his victory in the Dutch general elections, did not attend the event.

(Federica Pascale | Euractiv.it – Edited by Sarantis Michalopoulos | Euractiv.com)