EU's radical right feels empowered by Trump: 'We are the future'
Leaders of Patriots for Europe, the nationalist and radical right group in the European Parliament, gathered in Madrid on Saturday, declaring that a political shift is under way. Spearheaded by Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán and French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, the meeting echoed the momentum of Donald Trump's influence in the United States, saying: "We are the future!"
Under the slogan Make Europe Great Again, a clear nod to Trump's Make America Great Again, nationalist leaders convened at the invitation of the Spanish party Vox in a hotel near Madrid airport. They called for a "180-degree turn" in European policy, asserting that Trump’s victory signals the end of the old political order.
"We are facing a real shift. The EU seems to be in shock"
"Since the election of the American president, the world and Europe are experiencing an acceleration of history," said Le Pen, chair of France’s Rassemblement National. "We are facing a real shift. The EU seems to be in shock."
A similar message came from Orbán. "The Trump tornado has changed the world. An era is over. Yesterday, we were still the heretics. Today, we are the mainstream."
The event, which drew 2,000 attendees, also featured prominent nationalist figures such as Geert Wilders, whose PVV became the largest party in the Dutch parliamentary elections, former Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš and Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini.
Vlaams Belang leader Tom Van Grieken, whose party was represented in Madrid by MEP Gerolf Annemans, said that "the era of the old European power parties is coming to an end. Their spasmodic reaction to president Trump's victory symbolises that to the fullest. Instead of powerlessly criticising the United States, Europe must write its own story."
However, not all nationalist leaders were present. Notably absent were Germany’s Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) and Italy’s Fratelli d’Italia, led by prime minister Giorgia Meloni, the only European leader to attend Trump’s inauguration.
Resistance against far-right
As the far-right leaders gathered in Madrid, opposition to their movement was visible elsewhere. In Germany, 99-year-old Holocaust survivor Albrecht Weinberg joined a rally against the far-right in the city of Leer. A week earlier, Germany’s Bundestag passed a motion on migration reform with the support of the far-right AfD, a move that has sparked protests across the country.
Weinberg, who survived Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, recently announced he would return his Order of Merit, Germany’s highest honour. "That this can still happen to me at almost 100 years old is unbelievable," he said.
Police estimated that 200,000 people protested in Munich, with thousands more in Bremen and Hanover. The show of opposition comes just two weeks before Germany’s parliamentary elections.
Participants at a meeting of Patriots for Europe, the European Parliament's largest far-right bloc © PHOTO THOMAS COEX / AFP
Related news
