Far-right Madrid summit galvanized by Trump win

A gathering of Europe's nationalist leaders in Madrid, Spain on Saturday was held with the intention of showcasing the transformation of a once-fringe movement that has evolved into the European Parliament's third-largest voting bloc.

Under the slogan "Make Europe Great Again", the Patriots for Europe summit was meant as a display of strength to demonstrate how the US President Donald Trump's election victory in November has quickly reshaped the continent's political landscape, according to political analysts.

Hosted by Spain's Vox party, the summit drew prominent nationalist figures including Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, French National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen, and the Netherlands' Freedom Party founder Geert Wilders.

Orban referred to what he called "the Trump tornado", claiming that Trump's presidency had "changed the world in just a few weeks... yesterday we were heretics, today we're mainstream".

Salvini and Vox leader Santiago Abascal brushed aside worries about Trump's proposed European trade tariffs. "The great tariff is the (European Union) Green Deal and the confiscatory taxes of Brussels and socialist governments across Europe," said Abascal.

The parties attending issued a joint statement that denounced the European Union for what they called "climate fanaticism", "illegal immigration", and "excessive regulation", reported Agence France-Presse, or AFP.

Salvini pointed to Germany's upcoming Feb 23 election as a "historic opportunity", with the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfG, polling second. He criticized Germany's Chancellor Olaf Scholz's leadership, saying "the engine of Europe has come to a halt in the face of the most disastrous government of the post-war period".

Every speaker at the two-day event addressed the issue of protecting Europe's borders from illegal immigration, despite data from the EU's border agency Frontex showing a significant decline in irregular border crossings in 2024.

Le Pen hailed Trump's election triumph as a catalyst for "real change" in Europe, adding that the EU had left the continent behind in technological advances like artificial intelligence. "We are the only ones that can talk with the new Trump administration," she added.

According to Steven Forti, a lecturer at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, the gathering was designed as a "show of force" following the bloc's strong performance in last year's European Parliament elections, where they secured 86 seats.

The group aims to "show its central place in the competition" with other far-right factions, including Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, which leads the 80-seat European Conservatives and Reformists bloc in the European Parliament, Forti told AFP.

The Patriots for Europe bloc wanted "to take advantage of the wave triggered by Trump's victory and the shock in the European Union" to reshape continental politics, said Forti, noting they shared Trump's desire to weaken the EU.

The absence of certain influential nationalist parties from the Patriots of Europe bloc, such as the Brothers of Italy, the AfG, and Poland's Law and Justice Party, indicates ongoing challenges in achieving cohesion within Europe's far-right movements, reported Reuters.