Twelve extreme right-wing Eurosceptic parties responded on Saturday 18 May in Milan, at the invitation of Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini (see EUROPE 12230/22). But even before it began, the rally was marred by the scandal that hit its Austrian ally, the FPÖ.
There were between 30 and 40,000 supporters in Duomo Square, far from the 100,000 people expected by Matteo Salvini, according to several Italian media reports.
Alongside the leader of the Lega and the president of the French Rassemblement National (RN), Marine Le Pen, were Geert Wilders for the Dutch Party for Freedom (PVV), Veselin Mareshki for the Bulgarian Volya party, Tomio Okamura for the Czech SPD and Boris Kollar for the Slovak group Rodina Sme.
The German AfD was represented by MEP Jörg Meuthen, the Austrian FPÖ by Georg Mayer, the Flemish Vlaams Belang by MEP Gerolf Annemans, also president of the Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedoms (MENF). The Danish People's Party was represented by MEP Anders Vistisen, the Estonian Ekre Party by its Vice-President Jaak Madison and the True Finns by its Vice-President Laura Huhtasaari.
On the other hand, the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, who has albeit announced his willingness to cooperate with Mr Salvini on the migration line (see EUROPE 12246/26), but refused to be allied with Mrs Le Pen, as well as the Polish Law and Justice Party (PiS), were absent.
Accompanied by its head of the list for European women, Jordan Bardella, Marine Le Pen considered that this demonstration was “a founding act of the peaceful and democratic revolution that is revealing the awakening of the people in all countries”. She even lent the French national anthem to her fellow Europeans, chanting: “Let us go children of the homeland, the day of glory has come”.
“Our project is that of cooperation between States, that of a free, sovereign Europe of Nations, which respects the identity and will of the people without ever imposing anything contrary to their interests,” she explained.
Earlier, at a press conference, Marine Le Pen also attacked the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, calling him “a child king” and reiterating that, if he did not lead in the European elections in France, he should resign from his post.
Explosion of the Austrian coalition government
It was not the antifascist demonstration on the same day in Milan that disrupted the rally, but the scandal that struck the Freedom Party of Austria (FPÖ).
Its leader, Heinz-Christian Strache, resigned Saturday from his position as vice-chancellor and left the party leadership after a video showing him discussing editorial lines and the possible takeover of a press group with a woman claiming to be the niece of a Russian oligarch while also promising to award public contracts in exchange for financial and political benefits.
Norbet Hofer, the Minister of Transport, has been appointed as the new Party leader. MEP Harald Vilimsky, head of the FPÖ's list for the European elections, cancelled his visit to Milan and was therefore replaced by MEP Georg Mayer.
The scandal caused the collapse of the coalition government in Austria between the FPÖ and the Austrian People's Party (ÖVP). Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and President Alexander Van der Bellen immediately announced early elections in September.
The FPÖ announced, on Monday 20 May, that it will withdraw all its ministers from the government if Sebastian Kurz confirms his intention to dismiss the Minister of the Interior, Herbert Kickl, who was implicated in the video investigation.
The scandal also hit the extreme European right. On Monday, Marine Le Pen, who had refused to comment on the case in Milan, condemned Mr Strache's attitude on the France Info channel, but also expressed that she considered it a trap, a few days before the European elections.
“The question we obviously have, and I think everyone has it, is that this video is two years old and in the meantime he became vice-chancellor and we wonder why those who set this trap - because it is a trap - did not make this video public to prevent Heinz-Christian Strache from becoming vice-chancellor”, she said.
As for Brussels, the European Commission spokesman, Margaritis Schinas, did not wish to comment on the case. "We have full confidence in the Austrian people and the Austrian democratic institutions to remedy this situation," he said on Monday.
The European political parties, for their part, reacted extensively. The European Green Party (EGP), speaking through its candidate Bas Eickhout, considered that these revelations clearly show how dangerous it is to enter into a coalition with the far right.
“While in their campaign rhetoric populists claim to be working in the defence of the nation, the far-right mask is beginning to slip and underneath it is clear that the prime focus for this type of party is personal enrichment and capturing power by whatever means”, the Dutchman said in a statement on Saturday.
On Twitter, the top candidate of the European People's Party (EPP), Manfred Weber from Germany, drew a clear conclusion from this case: “These radicals must not be given any influence on our Europe”.
Among the Socialists and Democrats (S&D), French MEP Pervenche Berès said that “it is clear that, for the far right, citizens are a commodity, a means of making money. They are sovereignist in name only, because, in reality, they sell out our democracies”. (Original version in French by Marion Fontana)