Matteo Salvini, the leader of the Italian right-wing League party, called Italians and Europeans to a joint movement on October 6 in Pontida in Lombardy to protect borders, security, cultural identity and the future in a live video message on his social media site on Tuesday evening.

Young people between the ages of 15 and 25 discuss a range of topics, from education to the use of artificial intelligence, from cultural identity to protecting the future.

On October 6, the League's politicians, voters, sympathizers, and its European allies and supporters will join.

Matteo Salvini mentioned Prime Minister Viktor Orbán by name and Dutch Prime Minister Geert Wilders, leader of the Freedom Party.

According to the League's statement, André Ventura, the president of the Portuguese Chega party, and Marlene Svazek, the vice-president of the Austrian Freedom Party, which won Sunday's elections, will be present. Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, who lead the French National Compact, will send a video message to Pontida due to another national event, as will the former Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro.

Matteo Salvini emphasized that the meeting of the League, traditionally held in Pontida in Lombardy, will be more than a party meeting this year. There will be a movement to announce that the

"protecting borders is not a crime, but a duty".

He recalled that the prosecutor's office in Palermo, Sicily, requested a six-year prison sentence for him, as he, as Minister of the Interior, detained a Spanish civilian ship in 2019 that wanted to dock on the coast of Italy. Salvini emphasized that the court will issue a verdict in the coming weeks, perhaps before the end of October.

"If they don't judge, we celebrate together. If I am convicted, I will not give up, I will continue to close the gates of Italy, as the borders are the gates of our homes. (…) I am proud to have protected the homes of Italians"

he declared.

He said that over the last two weekends, a hundred thousand signatures were collected at points set up in Italian streets and squares, where Italians, immigrants and opposition voters assured him of their solidarity.

Matteo Salvini added:

illegal immigration and human trafficking must be stopped,

whose organizations ask for up to four thousand euros per person, and then spend the money on arms and drug trafficking.

He stated:

the grandfathers and fathers of Italians gave their lives to prevent their country from falling into foreign hands, and now Italian cities are in the hands of foreign criminals, perpetrators of violence, and murderers.

He added that there are 20,000 illegal immigrant criminals in Italian prisons.

He said there are many honest foreigners living, studying, working and paying taxes in Italy, "whom I consider my brothers and sisters." At the same time, he noted that the number of legally settled immigrants cannot become a majority: "I say yes to admission, but up to a certain number."

He added that

does not support speeding up or making it easier for immigrants to become citizens.

In his opinion, young immigrants who have grown up in Italy should continue to apply for citizenship after the age of 18, according to current practice.

Regarding the victory of the Austrian Freedom Party in the parliamentary elections, Matteo Salvini asked where and how those who think they see Nazis and fascists live everywhere.

"This is democracy. They are not neo-Nazis, as the left claims, but people who care about the security, freedom, culture, and future of their nation."

he declared.

At the beginning and end of Matteo Salvini's direct check-in, he identified peace as this year's biggest challenge. He believed that the election of Donald Trump as US president could end the "damned conflict" in the Middle East and, similarly, the war in Ukraine.

MTI

Cover image: MTI/EPA/ANSA/Riccardo Antimiani