Marine Le Pen to meet Salvini

Marine Le Pen has been invited by the General Union of Labor (UGT), a union close to the Italian League led by Matteo Salvini. The news has shaken the French establishment who denounced the meeting of “extremists”.

The French minister for European affairs, Nathalie Loiseau, even compared Salvini to the man responsible for Jesus Christ’s judicial murder: “Mr Salvini today, he’s like Pontius Pilate. It’s obscene.”

And according to French president Emmanuel Macron, Italy has “decided to no longer follow international law, in particular humanitarian maritime law”.

The President of the National Rally in France, Le Pen, will travel to Rome on Monday, October 8, to meet Salvini, her Italian ally and the Minister of the Interior, she announced on Wednesday on her Twitter account.

“I will be in Rome on Monday with Matteo Salvini to discuss, at the invitation of the General Union of Labor,” economic growth and social perspectives in a Europe of nations,” said the president of the National Assembly (ex FN ), close to the Italian League led by Salvini.

Je serai lundi à #Rome avec Matteo Salvini pour évoquer, à l’invitation de l’Union Générale du Travail, « la croissance économique et les perspectives sociales dans une Europe des Nations ». Il existe une alternative à l’UE et nous la construisons ! MLP cc @matteosalvinimi

— Marine Le Pen (@MLP_officiel) October 3, 2018

“There is an alternative to the EU and we are building it,” added the Pas-de-Calais MP. Matteo Salvini is the strongman of the Italian government and the leader of the Italian League, an anti-immigration formation that has long been inspired by the Front National of Marine Le Pen. In June this year, the Front National changed its name to become the National Rally.

The League came to power in May, in a coalition government with the 5-Star Movement in Italy. The former Northern League, which has abandoned its secessionist ideals to adopt anti-euro and anti-immigration stance, now holds seven ministries. The UGT [Unione Generale del Lavoro] is a union close to the League.

Salvini meanwhile continued to attack European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Wednesday following his criticism of Italy’s budget plans.

“This gentleman is the head of government of 500 million Europeans, a gentleman who comes from a tax haven like Luxembourg,” Salvini told Mediaset television.

“If you search ‘Juncker sober’ or ‘wobbly’ on Google, you’ll see images that, at times, are striking,” he added.

On Tuesday Salvini said: “I talk to sober people who don’t make comparisons that aren’t here nor there” when asked about Juncker’s suggestion Italy might pose a Greece-like threat to the euro.

Salvini also said Juncker should drink two glasses of water before talking about Italy’s debt risks.