Italian Interior Minister and League Party leader Matteo Salvini vowed to take Europe to ‘its roots and to its original dream’, while speaking at the League headquarters in Milan on Monday, after his party came first in the European Parliament election in Italy.
“The Eurosceptics did not win. I reiterate, the Eurosceptics, the anti-Europeans are those who led Europe until yesterday. Above all, the socialists. We’ll try to save this Europe by bringing it to its roots and to its original dream,” said Salvini.
“I’m convinced that the new European Parliament and European Commission will be friends of Italy, at least a bit more than they were with the ultra-Europeanist governments of the Democratic Party in the last years. The European geography has changed,” he added.
Salvini also stated that the League had come in first in Riace and Lampedusa, which according to him, have been the communities that the leftist parties chose as the symbol of anti-Salvinism and anti-Lega-ism.
“It’s evidently a demand for immigration which is lawful, limited, controlled, qualified, positive. It’s not just Salvini’s caprice, but it is also the firm will of the Italians. And it is the first battle that we’ll placidly lead and win in the new European Parliament and European Commission,” said Salvini.
According to voter projections the League became the first party in Italy by winning 33% of the vote, surging from just 6 percent at the last European vote in 2014 and at least 10 percentage points in front of the Democratic Party.
The League’s coalition partners, the 5 Star Movement (M5S), finished third with 19% of the vote. The M5S had gained 32,7 percent of the vote during Italy’s last political elections in March 2018.