Meeting in Madrid: the far right closes ranks
At the invitation of Spain's Vox party, leading representatives of several far-right European parties convened on Saturday under the Trump-inspired motto 'Make Europe Great Again', presenting themselves as a political alternative for Europe's future. Commentators are critical of the gathering.
Fake unity
Gazeta Wyborcza does not trust the unity on display:
“The assembled nationalists and right-wingers did their best to show unity in the face of a common enemy, but at the same time to conceal what already divides them today and what could make their international front impossible in the future because it is contradictory in its basic assumptions. They all called for the closure of European borders to immigrants, the defence of the family and democracy and the overthrow of the project of a united Europe. But they were silent not only on Donald Trump's anti-European digressions, such as his threat to impose tariffs on European goods, but also on the threat to Europe and European democracies posed by the imperial ambitions of Vladimir Putin's Russia.”
Join forces to stop neo-fascists
News website In would like to see a broad counter-alliance aimed at stopping the ultra-right's quest for power:
“Racism, misogyny, homophobia, extreme neoliberalism and cuts in state social spending are the future of the EU that the ultra-right is striving for. It has stood up and is claiming not only a presence in parliaments, but also participation in governments. ... The question is how to stop its advance. Common sense dictates that the only solution is for the political forces that oppose the irrational obscurantists and neo-fascists to form as broad a coalition as possible.”
Fifth column reminiscent of the Middle Ages
For Eldiario.es this harks back to the Reconquista which came to a head in 1492, in which the Christians expelled the Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula:
“It sounds like one of those 'An Englishman, a Frenchman and a Spaniard...’ jokes, but it's not funny. Because now a Hungarian, an Italian, a Frenchwoman, an Estonian, a Pole, a Portuguese, a Dutchman, an Austrian, a Czech and a Spaniard are meeting in Madrid to demand a new Reconquista. ... Another attempt to update the old slogans of Spanish nationalism. This reconquista is nothing more than a counterattack, a cultural struggle that is sweeping across half the planet. ... 'Make Europe great again', the self-styled 'patriots' shout. They're so patriotic that they're happy to be Trump's fifth column. ... Only now it seems that these new reconquistadores are coming directly for us.”
Orbán contradicting himself
The Hungarian governing party Fidesz is acting against its own principles, Magyar Hang points out:
“When Viktor Orbán spoke at the Patriots' meeting in Madrid on the weekend, he trampled on Spain's sovereignty. At least in Fidesz's way of thinking there is no other way to interpret what happened, since the Hungarian prime minister made it clear that he hopes that Vox, his party's ally in Spain, will come to power there at some point. ... This poses the pertinent question: if he considers this normal, why does Viktor Orbán object when, for example, his former ally Manfred Weber of the European People's Party talks about wanting the opposition Tisza party in power in Hungary?”