Thousands of right-wing supporters gathered in Italy for an event called ‘anti-migrant Glastonbury’, where they cheered hard-right leaders including Geert Wilders and Viktor Orban.
At the meeting – held annually in Pontida in northern Italy – partygoers enjoyed sausages and plenty of beer as they listened to right-wing leaders from across the continent discuss illegal migration.
One of the main headliners was Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has led the Eastern European nation for almost 15 years and transformed it into what he calls an “illiberal democracy.”
Speaking in Pontida, he said: “We will never hand over our countries to foreigners.”
Dutch politician Geert Wilders also spoke at the event. Wilder’s far-right Freedom Party (PVV) topped the polls last year with a surprise victory in the Dutch parliamentary elections.
European right-wing politics from left to right: Dutch politician Geert Wilders, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini
Salvini is the darling of Italy’s far right, with many supporters in the crowd carrying banners reading “Io sto con Salvini” or “I am with Salvini”
Thousands of right-wing supporters have gathered in Italy for an event dubbed the ‘anti-migrant Glastonbury’.
Despite only half of the expected 25,000 attendees making the trip to Pontida, spirits among organizers remained high in a year that saw record results for hard-right parties across Europe.
Wilders’ PVV is now part of a coalition government for the first time.
The politician used his time on stage to claim that ‘there is a tsunami of mass illegal migration that is making us strangers in our own country.’
Both leaders shared great affection for the transnational festival’s host – Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini – with Orban calling him a “hero” and Wilders going so far as to tell Salvini: “I love you.”
The Salvini lovefest marked a marked improvement in his political fortunes after the leader of Italy’s League party saw his support collapse in the 2022 elections when fellow right-wing leader Giorgia Meloni was elected prime minister.
Salvini’s return to prominence was helped when a court in Sicily tried to jail him for six years last month for stranding a boat carrying rescued migrants at sea while he was interior minister in 2019.
Before the next hearing on October 18, a defiant Salvini told supporters: “I would go to jail with my head held high – they can arrest one person, but they cannot arrest a whole people!”
The case has helped make Salvini once again the darling of Italy’s far right, with many supporters in the crowd carrying banners reading “Io sto con Salvini” or “I am with Salvini.”
His apparent rising popularity could damage Meloni’s claim as leader of the European right. The Italian Prime Minister has recently decided to distance himself from the more populist wing of the right and has instead strengthened ties with the more mainstream right-wing parties.
One of the main headliners was Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who has led the Eastern European nation for almost 15 years and transformed it into what he calls an “illiberal democracy.” Speaking in Pontida, he said: ‘We will never hand over our lands to foreigners’
Dutch politician Geert Wilders also spoke at the event. Wilder’s far-right Freedom Party (PVV) topped the polls last year with a surprise victory in the Dutch parliamentary elections
The Salvini lovefest marked a marked improvement in his political fortunes after the leader of Italy’s League party saw his support collapse in the 2022 elections when fellow right-wing leader Giorgia Meloni was elected prime minister.
Despite only half of the expected 25,000 attendees making the trip to Pontida, mood among organizers remained high in a year that saw record results for far-right parties across Europe.
In Austria, the right-wing Freedom Party (FPO) won the September elections, despite being criticized for calling their candidate for chancellor, Herbert Kickl, the “People’s Chancellor,” a phrase used to describe Hitler in Nazi Germany to describe.
Marlene Swazek, the vice president of the FPO, was in Pontida, where she promised to turn Austria into a “fortress.”
Elsewhere in Europe, Germany’s AfD party won an election for the first time in its history after topping the polls in regional elections in the former eastern German state of Thuringia.
The French National Rally caused a political earthquake in June when they won the EU elections there. This prompted French President Emmanuel Macron to take a political gamble by recalling or dismissing early parliamentary elections.
The gamble paid off and the National Rally finished third, while the famous cordon sanitary in French politics – designed to keep the far right out of government – remained intact and voters instead supported Macron’s centrist Ensemble and a coalition of left-wing parties.
Jordan Bardella, the 29-year-old president of the National Rally, spoke at the event via video link.
At the gathering – held annually in Pontida near Bergamo, Italy – partygoers enjoyed sausages and plenty of beer as they listened to right-wing leaders from across the continent spout anti-migrant rhetoric.
In Austria, the Freedom Party (FPO) won the recent elections despite being criticized for calling their candidate for chancellor the ‘People’s Chancellor’, a phrase used to describe Hitler. Marlene Swazek (pictured), the vice president of the FPO, was in Pontida where she promised to turn Austria into a ‘fortress’
Salvini poses for a selfie with two young supporters. The rise of far-right parties across Europe has been driven in part by the support of young people across the continent
Much of the rise of right-wing populism in continental Europe has been driven by the support of young people drawn to its anti-establishment and anti-migrant messages.
Luigi, 15, told us The times that Italy must defend its borders and he claimed that the train station in Bergamo – the nearest town to Pontida – was ‘full of migrants’.
The big gains for far-right parties may not be over with the upcoming general elections in Romania later this year.
The right-wing Eurosceptic Alliance of Uniting Romania (AUR) has been tipped to potentially come in second place when Romanians go to the polls in December.