Far-right leaders in Europe celebrate expected Brothers of Italy election win Marine Le Pen and members of Hungarian and Spanish parties among those welcoming poll results Sam Jones in Madrid, Kate Connolly in Berlin, Kim Willsher in Paris and Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo Mon 26 Sep 2022 11.23 BST https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/26/far-right-leaders-in-europe-celebrate-expected-brothers-of-italy-election-win News that a coalition led by the Brothers of Italy is poised to win power in Italy has prompted praise from other European far-right parties, warnings from political moderates – and an expression of profound alarm from the leading Italian writer Roberto Saviano. With full results from the election due later on Monday, projections based on a partial vote count showed Giorgia Meloni’s nationalist party appeared well positioned to give Italy its first far-right-led government since the second world war. Balázs Orbán, a Hungarian MP and the political director of the far-right Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, was one of the first to respond, congratulating Meloni on Twitter. “In these difficult times, we need more than ever friends who share a common vision and approach to Europe’s challenges,” he wrote. Viktor Orbán used the results of the Italian election to criticise the EU sanctions against Russia, saying they had driven up energy prices. He said the sanctions had “backfired”, adding that angry voters were ousting governments in Europe as a result. The rightwing Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, extended his congratulations to Meloni in a tweet. In France, Jordan Bardella, of the far-right National Rally, said Italian voters had given European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, a lesson in humility. Von der Leyen had earlier said Europe had “the tools” to respond if Italy went in a “difficult direction”. Bardella wrote: “The peoples of Europe raise their heads and take their destiny into their own hands.” Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) released a statement on Monday to congratulate Meloni and her party. “Despite all the undemocratic warnings from the EU commission president Von der Leyen and other politicians, the Italians have, like the Swedish Democrats before them, decided in favour of a political change,” it said. “And that is completely their democratic right. The election success of the Fratelli d’Italia is a further victory for common sense. Germany, with its left-green traffic light coalition, is looking rather lonely in Europe right now.” Marine Le Pen, also of the National Rally party, tweeted: “The Italian people has decided to take its destiny in hand by electing a patriotic and sovereignist government. Congratulations to Giorgia Meloni and [League leader] Matteo Salvini for having resisted the threats of an anti-democratic and arrogant European Union by winning this great victory.” Santiago Abascal, the leader of Spain’s far-right Vox party, celebrated Meloni’s lead, tweeting that “millions of Europeans are placing their hopes in Italy”. He said she “has shown the way for a proud and free Europe of sovereign nations that can cooperate on behalf of everybody’s security and prosperity”. Vox has forged close links with Meloni, and the Italian politician travelled to Spain in June to show her support for Macarena Olona, who launched an unsuccessful bid to win the presidency of the southern Spanish region of Andalucía for the party. Olona, who left Vox following disagreements with the party’s high command – and who has ruled out founding her own rival far-right party for the time being – also offered Meloni her congratulations. “You did it, Giorgia Meloni,” she tweeted. “The love of the Italian people has proved stronger.” Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said the country would endeavour to have the best possible relationship with the new Italian government. But he also noted that Meloni’s populist policies offered “miracle solutions”, adding that populisms always “end the same way – in catastrophe”. France’s prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, counselled caution and said the news meant her country would be monitoring human rights, and particularly access to abortion. “In Europe, we have certain values and, obviously, we will be vigilant,” Borne told RMC Radio and BFM TV. “It is a human rights value and the respect of others, namely the right to have access to abortion, [that] should be upheld by all,” Borne added. Borne said she did not want to comment directly on the “democratic choice of the Italian people”, but her comments will be seen as remarks on the rise of the Brothers of Italy party. Meloni has said she will maintain the country’s abortion law, which allows terminations but permits doctors to refuse to carry them out. But she has raised alarm among women’s rights advocates by saying she wants to “give to women who think abortion is their only choice the right to make a different choice”. Her party has also pledged steps to defend and promote Europe’s “Judeo-Christian” roots, prompting concern among minority groups. A far starker warning came from Saviano, the author of Gomorrah. The acclaimed writer said he had received hundreds of messages from supporters of Meloni urging him to leave the country. Saviano has been a vocal critic of Meloni’s anti-immigration stance and he is facing a defamation trial over remarks accusing her of a lack of compassion towards asylum seekers dying at sea. “I can see Saviano is a trending topic,” Saviano wrote on Twitter. “Meloni’s voters are ‘inviting’ me to leave the country. These are warnings. This is the Italy ahead of us. They are already drawing up a blacklist of enemies of the homeland, in spite of those who said that fascism is another thing.’’ Saviano, who has lived under armed guard since 2006 because of Mafia threats, wrote in the Guardian last weekend that “Meloni appears the most dangerous Italian political figure not because she explicitly evokes fascism or the practices of the black-shirted squadristi (militia), but because of her ambiguity”. Word of Meloni’s victory also soon reached the politician son of Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro. “Italy’s new prime minister is God, fatherland and family,” congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro tweeted - the same slogan as his populist father. Eduardo Bolsonaro rejected claims that Meloni represented “far-right fascism”. “If she was from the left, the headline[s] would say: “THE FIRST WOMAN TO GOVERN ITALY.” Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report

 

Far-right leaders in Europe celebrate expected Brothers of Italy election win

 

Marine Le Pen and members of Hungarian and Spanish parties among those welcoming poll results

 

Sam Jones in Madrid, Kate Connolly in Berlin, Kim Willsher in Paris and Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo

Mon 26 Sep 2022 11.23 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/26/far-right-leaders-in-europe-celebrate-expected-brothers-of-italy-election-win

 

News that a coalition led by the Brothers of Italy is poised to win power in Italy has prompted praise from other European far-right parties, warnings from political moderates – and an expression of profound alarm from the leading Italian writer Roberto Saviano.

 

With full results from the election due later on Monday, projections based on a partial vote count showed Giorgia Meloni’s nationalist party appeared well positioned to give Italy its first far-right-led government since the second world war.

 

Balázs Orbán, a Hungarian MP and the political director of the far-right Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, was one of the first to respond, congratulating Meloni on Twitter.

 

“In these difficult times, we need more than ever friends who share a common vision and approach to Europe’s challenges,” he wrote.

 

Viktor Orbán used the results of the Italian election to criticise the EU sanctions against Russia, saying they had driven up energy prices. He said the sanctions had “backfired”, adding that angry voters were ousting governments in Europe as a result.

 

The rightwing Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, extended his congratulations to Meloni in a tweet.

 

In France, Jordan Bardella, of the far-right National Rally, said Italian voters had given European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, a lesson in humility. Von der Leyen had earlier said Europe had “the tools” to respond if Italy went in a “difficult direction”.

 

Bardella wrote: “The peoples of Europe raise their heads and take their destiny into their own hands.”

 

Germany’s far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) released a statement on Monday to congratulate Meloni and her party.

 

“Despite all the undemocratic warnings from the EU commission president Von der Leyen and other politicians, the Italians have, like the Swedish Democrats before them, decided in favour of a political change,” it said.

 

“And that is completely their democratic right. The election success of the Fratelli d’Italia is a further victory for common sense. Germany, with its left-green traffic light coalition, is looking rather lonely in Europe right now.”

 

Marine Le Pen, also of the National Rally party, tweeted: “The Italian people has decided to take its destiny in hand by electing a patriotic and sovereignist government. Congratulations to Giorgia Meloni and [League leader] Matteo Salvini for having resisted the threats of an anti-democratic and arrogant European Union by winning this great victory.”

 

Santiago Abascal, the leader of Spain’s far-right Vox party, celebrated Meloni’s lead, tweeting that “millions of Europeans are placing their hopes in Italy”. He said she “has shown the way for a proud and free Europe of sovereign nations that can cooperate on behalf of everybody’s security and prosperity”.

 

Vox has forged close links with Meloni, and the Italian politician travelled to Spain in June to show her support for Macarena Olona, who launched an unsuccessful bid to win the presidency of the southern Spanish region of Andalucía for the party.

 

Olona, who left Vox following disagreements with the party’s high command – and who has ruled out founding her own rival far-right party for the time being – also offered Meloni her congratulations.

 

“You did it, Giorgia Meloni,” she tweeted. “The love of the Italian people has proved stronger.”

 

Spain’s foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said the country would endeavour to have the best possible relationship with the new Italian government. But he also noted that Meloni’s populist policies offered “miracle solutions”, adding that populisms always “end the same way – in catastrophe”.

 

France’s prime minister, Élisabeth Borne, counselled caution and said the news meant her country would be monitoring human rights, and particularly access to abortion.

 

“In Europe, we have certain values and, obviously, we will be vigilant,” Borne told RMC Radio and BFM TV. “It is a human rights value and the respect of others, namely the right to have access to abortion, [that] should be upheld by all,” Borne added.

 

Borne said she did not want to comment directly on the “democratic choice of the Italian people”, but her comments will be seen as remarks on the rise of the Brothers of Italy party.

 

Meloni has said she will maintain the country’s abortion law, which allows terminations but permits doctors to refuse to carry them out. But she has raised alarm among women’s rights advocates by saying she wants to “give to women who think abortion is their only choice the right to make a different choice”.

 

Her party has also pledged steps to defend and promote Europe’s “Judeo-Christian” roots, prompting concern among minority groups.

 

A far starker warning came from Saviano, the author of Gomorrah. The acclaimed writer said he had received hundreds of messages from supporters of Meloni urging him to leave the country.

 

Saviano has been a vocal critic of Meloni’s anti-immigration stance and he is facing a defamation trial over remarks accusing her of a lack of compassion towards asylum seekers dying at sea.

 

“I can see Saviano is a trending topic,” Saviano wrote on Twitter. “Meloni’s voters are ‘inviting’ me to leave the country. These are warnings. This is the Italy ahead of us. They are already drawing up a blacklist of enemies of the homeland, in spite of those who said that fascism is another thing.’’

 

Saviano, who has lived under armed guard since 2006 because of Mafia threats, wrote in the Guardian last weekend that “Meloni appears the most dangerous Italian political figure not because she explicitly evokes fascism or the practices of the black-shirted squadristi (militia), but because of her ambiguity”.

 

Word of Meloni’s victory also soon reached the politician son of Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro.

 

“Italy’s new prime minister is God, fatherland and family,” congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro tweeted - the same slogan as his populist father.

 

Eduardo Bolsonaro rejected claims that Meloni represented “far-right fascism”. “If she was from the left, the headline[s] would say: “THE FIRST WOMAN TO GOVERN ITALY.”

 

Agence France-Presse and Reuters contributed to this report