Orban, Le Pen, Salvini, and other European right-wing leaders’ meeting in Madrid

Leaders of far-right and right-wing parties that are members of the third largest European Parliament’s Patriots for Europe grouping have gathered for a large-scale meeting in Madrid under the slogan “Make Europe Great Again.” This was reported by Reuters.

The event was attended by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Italian Vice Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, as well as the informal leader of the French National Rally party, Marine Le Pen, and the leader of the Dutch Freedom Party, Geert Wilders.

All of these forces are known for their pro-Russian statements and anti-EU stance in the past.

Nationalist leaders from the EU nations welcomed Donald Trump’s return to power in the United States.

“Trump’s tornado has changed the world in just a few weeks… Yesterday we were heretics, today we are the mainstream,” Orban said in a speech to about two thousand far-right supporters.

All of the speakers at the event spoke against immigration, and most called for a new “Reconquista”—a” reference to the medieval conquest of Muslim-controlled parts of the Iberian Peninsula by Christian kingdoms.

The meeting was launched by former Estonian Finance Minister Martin Helme after a video message from Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

Helme’s speech, in which he condemned the “leftists,” was interrupted by a Femen activist who chanted in Spanish, “No step back against fascism,” and was then expelled.

Spain’s ruling Socialist Party, in a statement, emphasized that it rejects what it called “a coven of ultras.”

Orbán recently said that with the start of Donald Trump’s second presidency, he is launching a new phase of offensive, “the goal of which is to occupy Brussels.”

Orban repeated his call to help him “occupy Brussels” on the eve of the European Parliament elections held last June.