Leaders of many European right-wing parties met in Italy on Saturday, pledging to limit immigration in the region and oppose European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s second five-year term – Reuters.
The meeting of the Identity and Democracy (ID) group included delegations from Italy’s League, France’s Rassemblement National (RN), Austria’s Freedom Party (FPO), Portugal’s Chega and Belgium’s Vlaams Belang. They gathered in Rome, encouraged by favourable opinion polls showing that success in June’s European Parliament elections is within reach.
Apart from the agreement to tighten immigration rules, however, the downsides have become apparent.
Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy’s League party and deputy prime minister in Meloni’s Giorgia government, who did not include her in the ID group, said “warmongers” like French President Emmanuel Macron had become a problem for Europe after Paris opened the door to sending European countries to Ukraine.
French leader Marine Le Pen, who spoke at the rally via video link, mocked Meloni for suggesting she would back EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for a second term.
“Giorgia… will you support a second von der Leyen term or not? I believe so. And so you will contribute to worsening the policies that the people of Europe are suffering from so much.”
ID held a similar meeting in Florence in December, but this time the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, one of its key members that has been subjected to accusations of racism at home, was not invited.
