Under the motto “Jobs, Security, Common Sense,” the European Parliament’s Identity and Democracy (ID) Group organized a massive convention in Florence on Sunday, December 3rd, also serving as the party family’s unofficial campaign launch for next year’s EU elections.
The event, hosted by Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini’s Lega party, was attended by over a thousand members and staff from 14 different sovereigntist parties from all around Europe, including the French National Rally (RN), the German AfD, the Austrian FPÖ, and Geert Wilders’s PVV that recently won the Dutch elections.
“We chose Florence because it’s the symbol of the Renaissance, a place where Europe was reborn,” MEP Marco Zanni, President of the ID Group said in his opening speech on behalf of the organizers. “We are starting a new era, the renewal … of a free Europe for free citizens.”
The meeting was held in Florence’s robust Fortezza da Basso—because nothing says ‘Fortress Europe’ like an actual stronghold—within walking distance of the picturesque Tuscan capital’s stunning churches and palaces that are home to the best of Europe’s humanist artwork.
Indeed, many of the speakers drew from the Italian Renaissance to drive home their points.
“What is at stake for us [at the EU elections] is to return the power to the people,” National Rally leader Marine Le Pen said in her video message before quoting Florence’s most famous political theorist, Niccolò Machiavelli: “The best fortress of tyrants is the inertia of the people.”
But that’s about to change. “Today is a historic day,” Salvini declared in his grand speech. “Europeans will have a choice: freedom on one side and fear on the other; rights and work on one side, extremism on the other.”
Today in Florence, there are the friends of Europe, the defenders of Europe. Today in Florence, some women and men will defeat a giant who is the first enemy of Europe: The Masonic bureaucratic reality […] We are not afraid!
To that end, Salvini called for a broad right-wing coalition in Brussels, between ID, ECR, and even the center-right EPP, which has been collaborating with the Left far more than the two conservative groups. But the new balance of power might prompt the EPP to pivot to the Right instead, at least that is what Salvini hopes.
“For the first time, a united and determined center-right can win and free Brussels from those who are occupying it illegally for their interest,” the deputy prime minister said.
The idea of a right-wing coalition against Brussels’ leftist establishment was a recurring theme in several other speeches as well.
“We are not against Europe but for Europe. The dream of Europe has been raped by a green and left-wing political class. All those who are critical against this EU must collaborate,” MEP Gerolf Annemans, representing the Flemish Vlaams Belang said.
“We don’t want this globalist Europe,” said Tino Chrupalla, Co-Leader of the AfD. “We are for solidarity and safety. For freedom and property. For our vision of Europe of nations. And we can make this happen through common work.”
Busy with the government formation in the Netherlands, PVV’s Geert Wilders also joined through video, and, naturally, focused on his recent election victory and what it might entail for the rest of the continent.
“We gave hope to millions of people,” Wilders said. “May winning the national elections in the Netherlands be the start of a wave of national election wins across Europe!”
Our journey forward is grounded in the principles that have defined us throughout history: sovereignty, national identity, and freedom. We have to ensure that the decisions affecting our nations are made by those who know and love them best.
Smaller ID member parties were also present, including the Portuguese CHEGA, the Polish Confederation, the Estonian EKRE, and the Danish People’s Party. New, prospective members from Romania and Bulgaria were also given the same platform as the established ones, priming the audience for a much larger ID group in the European Parliament after next June.
“There might be just a dozen [parties] here, but behind us are tens of millions of Europeans,” said Kostadin Kostadinov, leader of the Bulgarian Revival Party. “Millions of Europeans who don’t want to be guests in their own homes.”
George Simion from Romania’s controversial AUR party was especially popular with the audience as he opted to speak without an interpreter, in near-flawless Italian. “We are in Hell,” Simion declared about the EU, while also pulling off a reference to Dante Alighieri’s Inferno. “But we have a historic opportunity; step-by-step, we can move to Purgatory, and then to Paradise.”
Although not on stage due to time limits, the ID Group also adopted a new election program—bearing the title of ‘Florence Manifesto for the Peoples and Nations’—which posits that not only individuals, but nations too, have rights of their own. Expected to be published shortly, The European Conservative was granted a peek.
At its core, the document is an ambitious testament to the unity of the sovereigntist Right across Europe:
We embrace our unique identities and traditions. This is why we will cooperate to protect our shared values and heritage.
We preserve our nations’ beautiful languages and cultures. This is why we will cooperate to protect our external borders.
We uphold democracy and the traditional rule of law. This is why we will cooperate to preserve freedom of speech.
We call for a Europe of cooperation, rather than centralization. We are united. We are determined. We are proud.
As for the concrete election program, the document details that the ID will work toward restoring and strengthening member states’ sovereignty in the EU decision-making, and enabling them to control their borders while preventing Brussels from abusing the rule of law against them.
Furthermore, the program criticizes the Digital Services Act (DSA) for allowing the violations of online free speech; the current green agenda for driving up prices and harming European industries; the horrible lack of transparency within the European institutions (think Pfizergate); and the ongoing effort to change treaties and construct a European “superstate.”
