Those who like to call themselves “progressives”, and whose ideas seem to have less and less traction on public opinion, will be facing organised sovereignists in the elections. On Saturday, in Milan, Italy, twelve leaders of European sovereignist parties will be meeting to form “the largest group in the Parliament” in Strasbourg, reported French political weekly magazine Le Point.
Along with Matteo Salvini, the German AfD will be present, as well as the Austrian FPÖ, the Danish People’s Party, the True Finns, and Marine Le Pen representing the National Rally at Piazza Duomo. Absent from the rally, however will be Viktor Orban, the Hungarian Prime Minister, together with the Polish PiS party.
“The supergroup, will exist with or without Mr Orban, even if it makes sense [to include Orban]. In this supergroup there are already three great nations, Italy, Germany and France, represented. This is not even the case today in the group that Emmanuel Macron is considering, where he has no German ally,” Marine Le Pen said in an interview on May 16 and published by Le Point.
On 8 April, Matteo Salvini called for the union of “patriotic and conservative forces” for a Europe with “less immigration” which would tackle “terrorism and Islamization”.
The union of like-minded parties threatens the end of the EPP’s reign that has autocratically governed Europe since its creation. The chairman of the European Commission was previously elected by the most powerful group, the EPP.
The RN list led by Jordan Bardella is now one point ahead of Nathalie Loiseau’s LREM party and the gap is widening. According to a new Ifop-Fiducial poll for Paris Match, CNews and Sud Radio, Le Pen’s Rassemblement Nationale or National Rally list is the only one in the lead, beating its previous record going into this European campaign.
Thus, the party of Marine Le Pen has gained once more compared to the last poll, and now registers 23,5 percent of voting intentions, ten days before the poll. The LREM list gained nothing and emerged at 22,5 percent of the vote.
Moreover, the RN remains in the lead of the winning forecasts, with 26 percent of respondents who think that the list of Jordan Bardella will win, against 25 percent for the list of Nathalie Loiseau. In third place, the list of Republicans, is headed by François-Xavier Bellamy, who has stagnated at 14 percent of voting intentions.
On the French left, the battle is still raging between Insubmissive France and Europe Ecology/The Greens. But the formation of Jean-Luc Mélenchon, even if it has stayed the same, has widened the gap with that of Yannick Jadot, who lost half a point, reaches his lowest level, with 7 percent of voting intentions.
Far behind, is the Socialist Party while the conservative party of Nicolas Dupont-Aignan has passed below the threshold of 5 percent, which guarantees at least one elected official to the European Parliament. The Communist Party, has stagnated to 3 percent, sharing the same fate.
The former right-hand man of US President Donald Trump evoked a “revolution” in progress.
Steve Bannon has been dreaming of bringing together the big family of “populists”. He explained his intentions and his projects, and the good and bad points of European leaders to Le Point.
For him, there is no question of the US or himself interfering in European politics. “I do not have a magic potion to offer to Marine Le Pen, Matteo Salvini or Viktor Orban. […] They are brilliant. They know their respective countries much better than me,” says the former US president’s adviser.
Asked about his role, he said: “To build bridges between populist and nationalist leaders wherever they are in the world”, and “contribute to this ongoing revolution on all continents”.
His revolution is symbolized by the victory of “Trump in the United States” , “Bolsonaro in Brazil” , but also “Abe in Japan” and “Modi in India”.
Bannon claims they won because they had one thing in common: “They give a voice – and power – back to the people!” He said the globalized elite was characterized by “someone like Emmanuel Macron”.
He added: “Marine Le Pen and Matteo Salvini want to stay in Europe. But they want to end a weak Europe that no longer defends the interests of citizens and member countries. […] They all have the same objective: economic nationalism and the interest of the people.”