Macron hits Orban, Salvini over populist future

Bloomberg

French President Emmanuel Macron joined a challenge issued by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, saying that Europe’s populist forces were right to see him as their “main opponent.”
Macron was speaking after Orban and Italy’s Matteo Salvini met in Milan to discuss creating a united front of Europe’s anti-immigrant political forces ahead of elections to the European Parliament next May. Orban singled out Macron, calling him leader of a “pro-migration” camp.
Macron, speaking in Denmark on Wednesday, said the populists are right to regard him as their chief adversary in the European Union.
“I won’t retreat in front of the nationalists and those preaching hatred,” Macron said in Copenhagen. “If they want to see me as their main opponent, they’re right.”
Next year’s European elections are emerging as a fundamental clash between Orban and Salvini’s form of “illiberal” nationalist politics against the liberal establishment forces. The Parliament will have a key role in approving the new European Commission, the EU’s executive, meaning that the contest has the potential to determine the future direction of all Europe.
During their meeting, Orban and Salvini, the deputy prime minister and League leader, talked about a political alliance at EU level which would “join different energies with a common goal,” and would “exclude the left-wing parties and bring to the fore the identities that our governments represent,” Salvini said.
Orban said he wants to spread his anti-immigrant views within the European People’s Party—the largest bloc in the current parliament that includes Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party. “We want to change a lot of things,” Orban said. “We need a new commission and a new parliament that take a definite stance in favour of defending frontiers and stopping migration.” The two criticized Europe’s traditional parties and Orban lashed out at Macron, accusing him of leading pro-migration forces and trying to tear the EPP apart.

Nationalists Unite
This is not the first time Orban and Salvini have called for more unity among like-minded parties. Orban, who has governed Hungary for the past eight years and was reelected in April, sees his party as opposed to multiculturalism and liberal values. He said in July that nationalist forces needed to unite to fight immigration. Salvini, who League party won power after a campaign against immigration, called for a “League of Leagues that will put together all the free, sovereign movements” in various countries.
Orban has often attacked the European Union on issues varying from sanctions on Russia to immigration policies.