Right-wing leaders launch EU election campaign

Right-wing leaders from across Europe launched their campaign for European Union elections with a conference rally hosted by the hardline Identity and Democracy, or ID, group in Florence, Italy, on Sunday.

Italy's Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy's right-wing Lega, or League, party, hosted the gathering of the ID's 14 constituent parties, which was themed "Jobs, Security, Common Sense".

The ID group comprises right-wing leaders from multiple European countries who promote nationalist and anti-establishment policies, prioritizing anti-EU sentiment, immigration concerns, cultural identity and protecting national sovereignty, and is known for its opposition to globalization.

Far-right leaders, representing Bulgaria, Belgium, Austria, Czech Republic and the Netherlands, where the right won the majority of seats in recent parliamentary elections, addressed around 2,000 supporters at a Renaissance fortress in the Italian city, vowing to shift the political landscape in Brussels, Agence France-Presse reported.

"Today, we present to Italians and all Europeans a different idea of Europe: the Europe of rights, instead of the Europe of cuts," Salvini told supporters.

Salvini stated his goal is to elevate ID from its current position as the sixth-largest group in the European Parliament, with 62 seats in the 705-member legislature, to be the third-largest group, behind the center-right European People's Party and the center-left Socialists and Democrats, Politico reported.

A total of 17 speakers voiced criticism of Islam, illegal migration and political correctness, but shared differing opinions regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Politico reported.

In a video address that opened the conference, Marine Le Pen, former president of France's National Rally group, delivered her message.

"We are movements of democratic and patriotic resistance in the face of a bureaucratic dominant structure, in the face of an arbitrary power," she said.

Salvini proposed a strategy to disrupt the long-standing alliance among conservatives, socialists and liberals in Brussels, suggesting that anti-EU hard-liners should align with the center-right forces, after the upcoming European Parliament elections in June.

ID leaders strongly criticized Brussels' proposal to ban combustion engines by 2035, arguing that such regulations would have disastrous effects on Europe's industrial districts.