Salvini: stop green deal and stability pact, back to buying gas and oil from Russia

Suspend the rules of the Stability Pact that 'are blocking our economy' and that 'ideological monster called the Green Deal'. Do like the US "which suspended sanctions on Russian oil". Return 'to nuclear power'. Giving 'priority to immigration from neighbouring countries in terms of culture and values' for 'true integration'. But also 'remigration' and 'residence permit with points'. Investing in 'peace and diplomacy instead of weapons and sanctions', saying 'no to the European army wanted by Macron and his likes'. These are the recipes spouted by League leader Matteo Salvini on stage at the end of the Patrioti per l'Europa ('Without fear, masters in our own home') rally organised by the League together with its sovereignist allies in parliament in Milan's Piazza Duomo, which was not as full as the Carroccio had hoped.

A peaceful demonstration, with families and many young people in the square, which however divided the centre-right. With Forza Italia organising a sit-in in the morning ('blessed' by Letizia Moratti and Fi's Senate group leader Stefania Craxi) to give a voice to the second generation of immigrants and claim the values of integration. The opposite direction therefore to the remigration evoked by the League.

Salvini started by counter-attacking. He did so by relaunching, despite the 'no' vote in the referendum, a 'necessary reform of justice starting with the civil liability of magistrates who, like all other workers, if they make mistakes must pay the consequences of their errors'.

But the discourse then quickly shifted to the energy crisis gripping Europe and beyond. And the League leader immediately recalled that 'the US has suspended sanctions blocking trade and the purchase of Russian oil until 16 May. It was not a little state of the former Soviet Union that did it, but the world's largest democracy'. And if Washington does it, 'I say they must also do it in Brussels'. Hence the lash: 'rather than closing factories, schools and hospitals let's go back to taking gas and oil from all over the world, including Russia, since we are not at war with Russia'. Salvini therefore accelerates, as he had so far made this option conditional on the end of the war in Ukraine. For Salvini after all, the measures the EU Commission is working on to counter the energy shock caused by the war in Iran lead 'to a new lockdown'. And they should be rejected at sender. 'The European Commission and the International Monetary Fund, led by Martians, are an evil pairing,' he adds. While Donald Trump's attacks on Giorgia Meloni and the pope (not specifically mentioned) are to be dismissed as 'personal and momentary events'. These events will not compromise 'the good relations between Italia and the USA' which 'will remain fundamental'.

In the crosshairs 'Islamic fanaticism and illegal immigration'. The Patriots, said Salvini, 'want to defend our solidarity and Christian identity'. Hence the option of 'giving priority to immigration from countries close to us in terms of culture and values, to guarantee true integration and not the chaos that the globalist left needs to pay workers in factories less'.