
Salvini and his allies rally around the idea of a Europe under attack from Muslims and liberal elites
Patrik Hermansson covered the first public appearance of Matteo Salvini’s far-right alliances ahead of the European Parliament elections.
Twelve leaders of radical and far-right parties gathered in Milan this weekend in front of crowds estimated to number 25,000. Although the parties have collaborated in for many years, this was the first public gathering of the alliance formed on an initiative Legaâsâ Matteo Salvini ahead of this weekâs elections. The group aims to form a joint group in the European Parliament. HOPE not hate observed the rally on the ground and saw a worrying international convergence of nativist leaders who in many cases used clearly far-right rhetoric. âWe must secure the future of our land and childrenâ, Geert Wilders told the crowd.
A large stage had been put up on one side of Piazza del Duomo in central Milan, Salviniâs home town and one of the centres of support for Lega. The square and its cathedral are popular tourist attractions but it had been cordoned off by police ahead of the rally. Banners on the stage read âStop! Bureaucrats, Bankers, Do-goodersâ, otherwise most screens and banners displayed pictures of Salviniâs face or his name. Screens ran interviews and clips of the party leader taking selfies with voters on previous rallies across the country, while images or names of actual candidates in the upcoming European Parliament election was difficult to make out. It wouldnât be unreasonable to think this was a campaign rally for Salvini himself, who has increasingly taken on a strong man role in the party, nicknamed âIl Capitanoâ by his supporters.

Welcomed by chants of his name from the crowd, Salvini said he wanted to âfree the continent from the illegal occupation orchestrated in Brusselsâ, and that Europe had been betrayed by the âMerkels, the Macrons, the Soroses and the Junckers who built a Europe based on finance and uncontrolled migration.â The audience chanted âMatteo, Matteo, Matteoâ in response.
Salviniâs Lega is doing well. The party dropped âNordâ from its branding in late 2017 and simply started calling itself Lega, an all-Italy nationalist party rather than a secessionist one. It has since soared in popularity and at the time of writing is polling at 31 percent, up from a result of 17 percent of the votes in the 2018 election in both of the countryâs parliamentary houses. This opens up the possibility of a Lega-led government with Salvini as Prime Minister, potentially leaving the Five Star Movement outside completely. The relationship between the two parties – who are currently in a government coalition – is strained. The parties are united in their anti-EU stance, but differ on both immigration and economic policies. The Five Star Movement has campaigned on the introduction of a guaranteed basic income for the poor while one of Legaâs key policies is a 15 percent flat tax.

Although the weather was rainy, the crowd nearly filled Piazza del Duomo to listen to Salvini and his European partners. Among those there were Marine Le Pen of Franceâs Rassemblement National and Geert Wilders of the Dutch Party for Freedom. Alternative for Germany (AfD), Belgiumâs Vlaams Belang (VB), Estoniaâs EKRE and the Danish Peopleâs Party (DPP) had all sent their main MEP candidates and central party figures, JĂśrg Meuthen (AfD), Gerolf Annemans (VB), Jaak Madison (EKRE) and Anders Vistisen (DPP). Representatives from Slovakias Sme Rodina, Austrian Freedom Party, Finlandâs True Finns, Freedom and Direct Democracy (SPD) from Czech Republic and Volya from Bulgaria also addressed the rally.

A march from another part of the city, also organised by Lega, ended in front of the 14th-century cathedral where crowds had gathered for several hours. The police presence was big and everyone who wanted to enter the rally was frisked and bags were checked. After holding a short speech, Salvini introduced the international guests one after another. The first speakers just received a few minutes while the big names, Wilders, Le Pen and himself, were given much longer.
It quickly became clear that it was primarily Salvini, rather than the European guests that had attracted most of the audience. The first speaker, Veselin Mareshki from Bulgariaâs Volya party, impressed the crowd by speaking Italian, while Boris KollĂĄr of Sme Rodinaâs admittance that he wasnât proficient in the crowdâs native language received a cold response. Soon after, EKREâs representative, Jaak Madison, also noticed the crowdâs impatience with the various speakersâ use of English and said he would go off-script only to exclaim that âJuncker, he should come to Italy and learn from Matteo Salvini how to protect our countries, our nationalitiesâ and soon after ended his short speech.
The themes of the speeches were predictable and consistent. All focused on immigration and the supposed destruction of Christian, European values and the sovereignty of nations by current European elites. Tomio Okamura from Czech Freedom and Direct Democracy  said that Europeans could either choose âfreedom and sovereignty of our peoplesâ or âleave the power to those who plan [the] extinction of nation states.â Much of the anti-EU rhetoric was focused on those made out to be the instigators of this âextinctionâ; repeated mentions of âJunckerâ, âMacronâ, and âMerkelâ were met with jeers from the crowd.

Salvini and Le Pen were the only speakers that had a significant amount of time on stage and both emphasized the Christian heritage of European nations and attacked globalisation time and time again. âWeâre under threat from wild globalisation â, Le Pen said before adding âour Europe is the daughter of Athens and Rome, of Christianity and the Enlightenmentâ. Salvini repeated a motto familiar to his supporters, calling for âA Europe of common senseâ.
Geert Wilders speech was comparatively (though, predictably) more anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant. âWe have to stop Islamisationâ and âNo more ships with illegal migrantsâ were two of his statements that received the strongest response from the crowd. Showing his support for the new, gathered alliance, he told the crowd that âEurope needs more Salvinisâ.
A success for Salviniâs project is far from certain, however. Salviniâs counterparts in Europe tend not to get along. Notable but expected absences were Viktor OrbĂĄn or any representative from Fidesz, as well as Polandâs Law and Justice. Orban has previously said that heâs uninterested to work with Marine Le Pen while Law and Justice differs from Salvini and Le Penâs pro-Russian stances, which is also one of the reasons the Leader of the Sweden Democrats last month expressed disappointment that the Danish Peopleâs Party and the True Finns had joined Salviniâs alliance.
Salvini has pulled Lega decisively to the far right since taking over the leadership, harshening anti-immigration and anti-EU rhetoric and even citing Mussolini. He made the party worryingly successful and simultaneously gained support by the mainstream as well as attracted votes from other far-right parties. The crowd at the rally was mixed, with families and elderly people as well as youth that cheered to the anti-immigration and anti-EU speeches. However, there was a small minority that clearly expressed more extreme points of view. Some supporters were seen making nazi salutes on multiple occasions.

Despite the far-right rhetoric, there was no open presence of other Italian far-right organisations at the rally. Parties like fascist Forza Nuova and CasaPound are now more clearly competing for Legaâs voters (although Lega and Forza Nuova have collaborated on local levels). The Forza Nuova party held their own separate demonstration just a few hundred meters away, right after Legaâs rally had ended, where a speech by leader Roberto Fiore likewise emphasised the âbetrayalâ of the people by EU elites.