{"id":43093,"date":"2025-02-09T03:40:12","date_gmt":"2025-02-09T08:40:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/far-right-leaders-rally-in-spain-to-make-europe-great-again\/09\/02\/2025\/"},"modified":"2025-02-09T03:40:12","modified_gmt":"2025-02-09T08:40:12","slug":"far-right-leaders-rally-in-spain-to-make-europe-great-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/far-right-leaders-rally-in-spain-to-make-europe-great-again\/09\/02\/2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Far-Right Leaders Rally in Spain to \u2018Make Europe Great Again\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since taking office, President Trump has threatened European countries\u2019 security and economies, angled to take control of Greenland, and promised to \u201cdefinitely\u201d slap the nations with tariffs. Even parties that would seem to be his natural allies <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/06\/world\/europe\/trump-tariffs-europe-right.html\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">are nervous<\/a>. Some have quietly tiptoed back from the American president.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Saturday was not the day for disputes. Leaders of far-right parties in Europe came to Madrid for what, on the surface at least, amounted to a boldface names booster rally for a new Trump era.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">There was Marine Le Pen of France\u2019s far-right National Rally; the Netherland\u2019s populist, Geert Wilders; the leader of Italy\u2019s League party, Matteo Salvini. All made clear that they shared Mr. Trump\u2019s charge against what they see as \u201cwokeism,\u201d \u201cgender theory,\u201d and overweening environmentalism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For them, the American president had blown through the last barriers that had confined their parties to the political margins. The taboos had been toppled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cTrump\u2019s tornado has changed the world in just a couple of weeks,\u201d Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary told his allies from the stage of the summit whose slogan was, \u201cMake Europe Great Again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cYesterday we were the heretics,\u201d he said. \u201cNow we are the mainstream.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In addition to the recurring themes of the European far right \u2014 labeling the media \u201cparasites,\u201d bashing liberal elites, and decrying an \u201cinvasion\u201d of Muslim immigrants \u2014 the attendees quickly turned their sights on Mr. Trump\u2019s most recent targets.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For example, Mr. Salvini criticized the World Health Organization and the International Criminal Court; Mr. Trump moved to withdraw the United States from the W.H.O., and issued an executive order imposing sanctions on the I.C.C. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Wilders seemed to mimic Mr. Trump\u2019s language as he said voters were asking them to \u201cexpel illegal aliens and criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump\u2019s election represents \u201cthe Western world\u2019s final opportunity,\u201d said Afroditi Latinopoulou, a lawmaker with the Greek far-right party Voice of Reason.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Latinopoulou\u2019s party has no representation in the Greek Parliament, but some leaders at the rally, including Mr. Salvini\u2019s League and Mr. Wilders\u2019 Freedom Party in the Netherlands, are already governing as part of coalitions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Other parties, like Ms. Le Pen\u2019s National Party and the Spanish Vox party, which hosted the event, have risen in recent years, but were still out of power, often kept out by an alliance of mainstream parties.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Many of these parties are still considered pariahs in the European Parliament in Brussels, and right-wing leaders like Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy did not join the event organized by the group, which calls itself the Patriots for Europe in that legislative body.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In elections last summer for the European Parliament, what many had anticipated would be a wave of support for far-right parties <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/06\/10\/world\/europe\/european-parliament-elections-key-takeaways.html\" title=\"\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">did not fully materialize<\/a>. But many of these parties are popular among young voters, and stand a chance to enter governments in coming elections. They think Mr. Trump\u2019s victory has put wind in their sails.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Trump\u2019s victory \u201cbrought a political earthquake to the world,\u201d Mr. Wilders said. \u201cHe brings a message of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">They skewered the \u201cliberal fascists\u201d who they said had replaced Christian civilization with \u201ca sick Satanic utopia,\u201d the \u201ccreeps\u201d who \u201cwant to turn our children into trans-freaks,\u201d and the supposed ethnic replacement of native-born Europeans by immigrants. They borrowed liberally from conspiracy theories.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">And along with Mr. Trump they shared a distaste for the European Union \u2014 even though many of their countries benefit from E.U. funds and nearly all the parties have disavowed cries to leave the bloc since Brexit has proved to be a drag on Britain\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Nonetheless it was clear that their idea of making \u201cEurope Great Again\u201d was to tear down the European Union as it now stands. \u201cLess Europe, more freedom,\u201d Mr. Salvini said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some of those attending questioned the very slogan of the event. \u201cThey say they want to make Europe great but what do I care about defending Europe?\u201d said Jesus Casta\u00f1\u00f3n, 79, a retired architect who sat in the crowd. \u201cIt does not deserve it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At the gathering, the European Union was uniformly loathed as a group of unelected bureaucrats sealed in glass palaces and intent on infringing upon nations with excessive regulation and sabotaging their economies with climate policies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Since Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, most of Europe\u2019s mainstream parties have come to accept the need to spend more money on defense, and they talk of unity to confront potential trade disputes with Mr. Trump.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But few at the rally spoke of needing to increase cooperation among E.U. countries. \u201cThe European Union is a pump that works in reverse,\u201d Ms. Le Pen said. \u201cIt sucks up the sovereignty from our states to institutionalize powerlessness.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">When people at the event talked of making Europe great again, most talked about making Europe a beacon for Christianity, elevating individual nations and restoring their pride and identity.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Instead of supporting the European Union, one member of the crowd said he preferred the re-establishment of the Spanish colonial empire encompassing Spain and Latin America.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI have little in common with a Belgian or a northern Italian,\u201d said Gonzalo Ruiz, 64, a retired meteorologist. \u201cReunification with South America is the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some divisions could not be disguised. Some leaders praised free-market economics, while others supported protectionism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Orban, who has long stood out even among the far right for his closeness to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, has criticized support for Ukraine. \u201cBecause of Brussels we are giving our money to Ukraine in a hopeless war,\u201d he said on Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/08\/world\/europe\/far-right-spain-rally.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Since taking office, President Trump has threatened European countries&rsquo; security and economies, angled to take control of Greenland, and promised to &ldquo;definitely&rdquo;<br \/><button class=\"read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/world\/far-right-leaders-rally-in-spain-to-make-europe-great-again\/09\/02\/2025\/\">Read More &rsaquo;<\/a><\/button><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":43095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43093"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43093"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43093\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43093"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43093"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newssprinters.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43093"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}