Right-wing 'Patriots for Europe' group rallies around Italian politician Matteo Salvini

euronews (in English)

Representatives from the EU Parliament’s third-largest political group attended the League party’s annual gathering where migration and border protection topped the agenda.

Transcript

00:00It was both a show of strength and support for Matteo Salvini.

00:05On Sunday, leaders of political forces within the far-right nationalist Patriots for Europe

00:09group came to the League Party's annual gathering in Pantida to defend the Italian leader who

00:14faces a potential jail sentence in a migration trial.

00:18The stood united on stage under the slogan, defending borders is not a crime.

00:23They cannot stop the holy alliance of the European peoples that today is born in Pantida.

00:31I love you and I give you my word of honour that I will not give up and I will never give up.

00:37From the President of Portugal's O'Sheaga Party to Austria's Freedom Party and Hungary's

00:42Prime Minister Viktor Orban, migration topped the agenda, along with the call for Europe

00:47to change its course.

00:50We celebrate Salvini in Hungary as a hero, because he closed the borders and defended

00:58the homes of the Italians.

01:03He deserves honour and not criminal proceedings.

01:13Matteo Salvini is using this event to raise his profile and gain support after Italian

01:18prosecutors requested a six-year jail sentence for refusing to disembark 147 migrants when

01:24he was interim minister in 2019.

01:27Matteo Salvini launched a petition in his defence, which has garnered around 100,000

01:34signatures so far, with more expected to be collected today.

01:39Supporters who signed the petition were given a special membership card from the League Party.

01:48The Italians understand what they want to do with the people who come to Italy.

01:58It's an invasion, but it's a critical moment. Salvini did what he had to do.

02:07And he did it very well.

02:09Whether or not Salvini's support for Patches for Europe, the third largest group in the

02:14European Parliament, could distance him from ECR president and coalition partner Prime

02:19Minister Giorgio Meloni is too early to say.

02:23Giorgia Orlandi for Euronews, in Puntida.

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