Italy's Deputy Prime Minister, Interior Minister Matteo Salveni, described himself as "Donald Trump of Italy", stressing that the European Union needs to be rescued by the populace.
Salveni, who is also the leader of the anti-immigration party, said he had a new medicine to reform his country, which he called Trump Therapy.
During the campaign in southern Potenza, Salvini Trump praised Italy, telling reporters that Italy should follow exactly what the president did about tax cuts and be brave "without paying attention to objections, limitations and uncertainties."
On the other hand, Salvini said that the current political elite is serving the European Union badly, and the bloc needs to be rescued by the populists who were wrongly labeled anti-European.
Salveni spoke on the eve of hosting a rally in Milan, which was described as a show of a new European right-wing populist coalition formed before the European Parliament elections next week.
"The skeptics in the European Union are the ones who rule Europe now, the anti-Europeans are the Socialists and the center-right stream, who have turned a dream into a nightmare and a hiatus," he said. "The enemies of Europe are those who now take power."
"If you go out on the street now and ask 10 people: Do you agree with the European Union as it is, do you like it?
Salveni said his goal was to reduce EU powers and restore national competencies on issues such as trade, agriculture and budgetary discipline, while he supported EU joint action on migration, particularly with regard to the repatriation of irregular migrants.