Matteo Salvini and Marine Le Pen in chorus against Europe and the "migratory submersion"

Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: GABRIEL BOUYS / AFP 16:35 pm, September 17, 2023

Against Europe and the "migratory submersion", for "peoples" and "identity": Matteo Salvini and Marine Le Pen made a common front during a large meeting Sunday in Italy in view of the European elections of 2024. "This year commits us to the same fight, our freedoms, our peoples, our homelands," said Marine Le Pen, president of the National Rally (RN) group in the National Assembly, from Pontida, in northern Italy, site of the traditional celebration of Matteo Salvini's anti-migrant League.

"We no longer want policies imposed on us that we have not chosen," she continued, citing in particular "the crazy ban on combustion engines", another hobbyhorse of Matteo Salvini. "We defend our traditions, our gastronomy, our identities, our landscapes (...) we defend our peoples in the face of migratory flooding," she added, referring to the thousands of migrants who arrived this week on the Italian island of Lampedusa.

"Blocking an invasion"

Marine Le Pen also spoke to thousands of supporters of the League about her "Declaration of the Rights of Nations and Peoples" in order to protect herself from the "excesses of power of supranational bodies or commercial structures" that she had presented the day before in France.

The political alliance of Marine Le Pen and Matteo Salvini seems stainless for a decade and also testifies to the solidity of their personal relationship. "Triple happiness (...) the pleasure of meeting Matteo (...) viva il Capitano", the nickname in Italian of Matteo Salvini. The latter multiplies the exits against the French President Emmanuel Macron, perceived as the standard-bearer of the "liberals" against the European "souveranists".

>> READ ALSO - Lampedusa: Giorgia Meloni and Ursula von der Leyen call for solidarity among Europeans

"If we have to choose in Europe between Macron and Marine Le Pen, I have no doubt, Marine Le Pen forever," said Giorgia Meloni's deputy prime minister in his right-wing and far-right government. Resuming his anti-migrant register, he assured that Italy will do "everything that is democratically allowed" and will use "any means necessary" to "block an invasion".

If at the national political level, Marine Le Pen is in opposition while Matteo Salvini belongs to the government coalition of the right and far right led by Giorgia Meloni, leader of Fratelli d'Italia (FDI), Marine Le Pen and the RN caracolate in the polls when the League and Matteo Salvini peak at 8-9%, far behind FDI. In other words, one seems to need the other more, especially since the RN has achieved very high scores in the last two European elections.

"Sustainable Alliance"

"He wants to show that the League is not an isolated party in Europe and given the popularity of Marine Le Pen he hopes that it will reflect on him," historian Marc Lazar, a professor at Sciences-Po, told AFP. The alliance between the two parties is "one of the most durable," notes philosopher and journalist Anna Bonalume, a specialist on Matteo Salvini. "The balances have changed over the years but their relationship has never changed."

The goal of Marine Le Pen and Matteo Salvini is to achieve success in the European elections on June 9 for which Matteo Salvini tried to replicate the national alliance at the European level. An offer sharply rejected by its government allies (FDI and Forza Italia, FI).

Antonio Tajani, head of diplomacy and FI (member party of the European People's Party, EPP), firmly ruled out a rapprochement with the French far right and the German AFD. "Our values are alternative" and Marine Le Pen "will never be our ally," he said.

"Marine Le Pen has the freedom to go where she wants and Matteo Salvini has the freedom to invite whoever he wants" to Pontida, said Guido Crosetto, Minister of Defence and close to Giorgia Meloni with whom he co-founded FDI.