Trump-style victory the aim for Europe’s far-right as leaders praise US president at Madrid conference
Mr Trump’s victory had “changed the world in just a few weeks,” said Hungarian
Prime Minister Viktor Orban at a rally where other speakers condemned illegal
immigration, leftists, migrant rescue NGOs, and “wokeism” to the delight of
2,000 flag-waving supporters.
Saturday 8 February 2025 19:34, UK
Europe’s far-right political leaders have praised Donald Trump and said they
wanted to “Make Europe Great Again” as they met in Madrid.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban
[https://news.sky.com/topic/viktor-orban-7524], Italy’s deputy premier Matteo
Salvini, French National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen
[https://news.sky.com/topic/marine-le-pen-5923] and Netherlands’ PVV party
founder Geert Wilders were among those at the gathering organised by Spanish
far-right party, Vox.
Referring to what he called “the Trump tornado”, Mr Orban said the Republican
candidate’s [https://news.sky.com/topic/donald-trump-5711] victory in November’s
US presidential election and subsequent return to the White House had “changed
the world in just a few weeks… yesterday we were heretics, today we’re
mainstream”.
Cheered by around 2,000 supporters waving Spanish flags, speakers railed against
frequent right-wing targets such as immigration, leftists, migrant rescue NGOs,
and “wokeism”.
The names of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Spanish
Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez were jeered loudly.
There were regular calls for a new “Reconquista”, a reference to the Medieval
re-conquest of Muslim-controlled parts of the Iberian Peninsula by Christian
kingdoms.
As for Mr Trump’s threat to place high tariffs on European imports, Mr Salvini
and Vox president Santiago Abascal downplayed the danger and said EU taxes, such
as the Green Deal, and regulations are a bigger risk to Europe’s prosperity.
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Germany’s election later this month represented a “historic opportunity”, Mr
Salvini said, as the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is polling in
second place, behind centre-right opposition leader Friedrich Merz’s Union bloc.
Mr Salvini said Germany, which he called “the engine of Europe” had “come to a
halt in the face of the most disastrous government [led by Olaf Scholz] of the
post-war period”.
The opening speech, by former Estonian finance minister Martin Helme was
interrupted by a topless activist from feminist group Femen chanting “not one
step back against fascism” in Spanish before she was ejected.
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Defending Europe’s borders against illegal immigration was another topic touched
on by every speaker at the two-day event, even though irregular border crossings
into the European Union fell sharply in 2024, according to data collected by the
bloc’s border control agency Frontex.
Ms Le Pen said the European leaders at the gathering, whose Patriots for Europe
group has 84 seats in the European Parliament, “are the only ones that can talk
with the new Trump administration”.
The group polled a combined 19 million votes in May’s European elections, but
some of the EU’s most influential parties in that camp – such as Italian Prime
Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy, AfD and Poland’s Law and Justice –
have refused to join.
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Spain’s ruling Socialist Party said in a statement it rejected what it described
as a “coven of ultras”, adding: “They won’t succeed in making their
black-and-white world view prevail in this country”.
