Posted on 09/03/2018 8:55:39 AM PDT by Beautiful_Gracious_Skies
"We are close to a historic turning point at the continental level. I am astonished at the stupor of a political left that now exists only to challenge others and believes that Milan should not host the president of a European country, as if the left has the authority to decide who has the right to speak and who does not -- and then they wonder why no one votes for them anymore." — Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.
"This is the first of a long series of meetings to change destinies, not only of Italy and of Hungary, but of the whole European continent." — Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.
"We need a new European Commission that is committed to the defense of Europe's borders. We need a Commission after the European elections that does not punish those countries -- like Hungary -- that protect their borders." — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini have pledged to create an "anti-immigration axis" aimed at countering the pro-migration policies of the European Union.
Meeting in Milan on August 28, Orbán and Salvini, vowed to work together with Austria and the Visegrad Group — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — to oppose a pro-migration group of EU countries led by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Orbán and Salvini are seeking a coordinated strategy ahead of the March 2019 European Parliament elections to defeat the pro-immigration Party of European Socialists (PES), a pan-European party representing national-level socialist parties from all EU member states. The objective is to change the political composition of European institutions, including the European Parliament and the European Commission, to reverse the EU's open-door migration policies.
At a joint press conference, Salvini said:
"Today begins a journey that will continue in the coming months for a different Europe, for a change of the European Commission, of European policies, which puts at the center the right to life, work, health, safety, all that the European elites, financed by [billionaire Hungarian philanthropist George] Soros and represented by Macron, deny.
"We are close to a historic turning point at the continental level. I am astonished at the stupor of a political left that now exists only to challenge others and believes that Milan should not host the president of a European country, as if the left has the authority to decide who has the right to speak and who does not — and then they wonder why no one votes for them anymore.
"This is the first of a long series of meetings to change destinies, not only of Italy and of Hungary, but of the whole European continent."
Orbán added:
"European elections will be held soon, and many things must change. At the moment there are two sides in Europe: One is led by Macron, who supports mass migration. The other side is led by countries that want to protect their borders. Hungary and Italy belong to the latter.
"Hungary has shown that we can stop migrants on land. Salvini has shown that migrants can be stopped at sea. We thank him for protecting Europe's borders.
"Migrants must be sent back to their countries. Brussels says we cannot do it. They also said it was impossible to stop migrants on land, but we did it.
"Salvini and I, we seem to share the same destiny. He is my hero."
Macron responded:
"If they wanted to see me as their main opponent, they were right to do so. It is clear that today a strong opposition is building up between nationalists and progressives and I will yield nothing to nationalists and those who advocate hate speech."
Salvini fired back:
"From the beginning of 2017 to the present day, the France of 'do-good Macron' has rejected more than 48,000 immigrants at the Italian border, including women and children. Is this the 'welcoming and supportive' Europe that Macron and the do-gooders are talking about?
"Instead of giving lessons to others, I would invite the hypocritical French president to reopen his borders and welcome the thousands of refugees he promised to take in.
"Italy is no longer the refugee camp of Europe. The party for smugglers and do-gooders is over!"
In July, Salvini said that he wanted to create a pan-European network of like-minded, nationalist parties:
"To win [the Italian elections] we had to unite Italy, now we have to unite Europe. I am thinking about a 'League of the Leagues of Europe,' bringing together all the free and sovereign movements that want to defend their people and their borders."
Salvini proposed that the network include Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Dutch Freedom Party leader Geert Wilders, France's National Front leader Marine Le Pen, and Hungary's Orbán, among others. He also said that the European Parliament elections in 2019 should be a referendum on "a Europe without borders" versus "a Europe that protects its citizens."
Salvini has repeatedly criticized the European Union over mass migration, accusing the bloc of having abandoned Italy as it struggles to deal with the more than 600,000 migrants who have arrived in the country since 2014. The problem has been exacerbated by EU regulations.
Under an EU rule — known as the Dublin Regulation — migrants must seek asylum in the country where they first enter the European Union. This has placed an inordinate burden on Italy, given its geographical proximity to Africa.
Italy has long sought to overhaul the Dublin Regulation, but other EU member states, most notably Hungary, have opposed changing the agreement. The dispute highlights the challenges of forming a united anti-immigration axis at the EU level: the interests of many EU member states are diametrically opposed.
Although Italy and Hungary, for example, agree that mass migration should be completely stopped, they disagree on how to deal with the migrants who already are in the EU. While Italy wants the migrants redistributed to other EU countries, Hungary and the Visegrad states are adamantly opposed to accepting any migrants at all.
In an interview with the Czech newspaper DNES, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babiš, ahead of his August 28 visit in Rome with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, said:
"I insist that we will not take any illegal migrants from Italy or elsewhere. This is nothing against Italy, to which we are sympathetic; it is a crucial strategy. It is, in my view, a key signal, a symbol and a message to migrants and smugglers that it makes no sense to sail to Europe.... [cut}
Babiš added that the European Union must overcome its differences and agree on a common pan-European migration policy:
"If Italy does not accept migrants, if Malta does not accept them, then Spain will. We are sending a message that it is possible to get to Europe from Morocco through Spain. We must stop the migration stream. I want to talk about it with my partners in Italy, Malta, and, of course, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has now acted with Spain. We have to work very hard to work on the solution because we have needlessly lost three years with the absurd debate about quotas...
"We must protect what our ancestors built for more than a thousand years. It is not a slogan, it is a fact."[cut] "
In an August 27 interview with the newspaper La Stampa, Di Maio again lashed out at Orbán: (cont'd)
"Orbán's Hungary raises barbed-wire walls and refuses migrant allocations. For those who do not accept the allocation, they should not be entitled to European funding."
Salvini defended Orbán: "I respect Hungary's absolute right to defend the borders and the security of its people. The shared objective is the defense of external borders."
Orbán replied: "We need a new European Commission that is committed to the defense of Europe's borders. We need a Commission after the European elections that does not punish those countries — like Hungary — that protect their borders."
“Axis” may not be the best choice of words to use here.
It’s about damn time. I was pretty sure Italy was toast.
Think how crazy this is, the Northern European countries are no where near the Middle East or Africa but their liberals are insisting muslims be brought there to destroy their cultures. All they have to do is support the Eastern and Southern countries’ borders and this problem wouldn’t exist.
Axis of sanity. Axis of self-preservation.
“We must protect what our ancestors built for more than a thousand years. It is not a slogan, it is a fact.”
That goes for America and Her 240+ years, too! We’re failing faster than Europe, if you think about it! Scary!
Build. The. Wall. NOW! MAGA!
Hmmmm. Coalition? Freedom saving force?
Some great comments follow the article:
1. This is Europe’s last stand .... the pro-immigration lobby will be in power and the sharia law pushers will have won.
2. Why Salvini and Orban did not mention Europe’s biggest problem with one word: Merkel!
She surpasses Macron, who under the radar takes actions to keep the borders as shut as he probably can. She is turning her country into something like a post Stalinist era where free speech is entirely done away with ... Her loud-mouthed announcement of deportations ->greatest hoax
The supportive msm act as her propaganda instruments, faking news beyond any credibility. The left Antifa extremist have country wide adopted the role of what the Stasi in former Eastern Germany was - a brutal and repressive mob confronting ANY peaceful crowds protesting against migrant crime waves in the streets with violence....
Things have come to a full circle by now. Former East Germany has entirely annexed the West and reestablished a repressive system aiming at bringing the ordinary citizens to their knees by mass import of some of their worst enemies, unskilled radical and (predominantly) Muslim migrants with medieval world views importing their repressive and excessive rape culture.
In case Merkel is not stopped very soon, whether by internal or external force, she will tear the entire continent into the abyss with no doubt.
3. We need a new European Union of CHRISTIAN countries, an EU that recognises it is the Christian religion & values that unites Europe, not ‘diversity’ or ‘multiculturalism’.... NATO should use warships to patrol the Meditteranean & turn the boats around...
4. I wonder how many left-wing liberals in Western Europe have already been bought off by some of the richest countries in the Arab World in exchange for looking the other way, and not interfering with the Arabs... the Islamization of their countries?! ... even Socialists can be so incredibly dumb and ignorant and so disconnected from reality (to see) what the consequences will be, if this insanity continues!
5. Every single country in the world needs their own Donald Trump!
Italy IS toast.
They should offer to take in immigrants: those from European nations who are fed up and disgusted with their own countries immigration policies....
From what I gather, you’re right.
Only the eastern countries who have refused entry and don’t already have large numbers of muslims will survive.
Hungary, Poland, etc.
And unlike Italy, the Central European countries didn’t have a history of committing atrocities on the continent of Africa.
Use of the term “Axis”. Clever.
NAZIS!!! HITLER!!! HITLER-LIKE NAZI HITLER NAZIS!!! MUSSOLINIHITLERNAZIFACISTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Considering that Hungary was a member of the Axis, as well during WWII.
Davvero in tre mesi i migranti irregolari in italia sono aumentati? Un rapporto
Salvini's got some splainin' to do...
So the Allies are the ones with open borders? Great.
Almost like a poison pill being inserted into the article?
The EU has Italy by the short hairs. As long as Italy refuses to live within its means, the EU will OWN them. I’m sure they’re allowing Salvini to spew because it makes the hoi polloi feel better. But I get the feeling that largesse won’t be continuing for much longer.
Right l just hope it’s it not too late for Italy. Seems like history repeating itself. one of the main reasons Rome fell is she didn’t defend her borders and culture.
Hmm.. that seems familiar.
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