“We are at a historic threshold, a time when one cycle – that of wild globalization – is coming to an end.” This was one of the main messages of Marine Le Pen, leader of the ‘French National Rally’ who visited Bulgaria on Friday as part of a 20-member delegation of right-wing politicians from the ‘Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom’ (MENF).

They attended a forum under the motto “The Movement for a Europe of Nations and Freedom – a New Model for European Citizens” that aims to prepare them for the upcoming European parliamentary elections in May 2019, in which rightists and conservatives are tipped to do well.

Failos Kranidiotis: EU is a “crippled empire”

Before launching the forum, the politicians gave an almost hour-long press conference in the Bulgarian parliament, which bristled with anti-EU language and nativist slogans about Europe’s doom under a wave of migration, the evils of the Brussels bureaucracy and wrongfulness of EU policy towards Russia.

Twenty politicians from five countries attended the meeting, including the Czech leader of the ‘Freedom and Direct Democracy’ group, Tomio Okamura, and Gerolf Annemans, from Belgium’s Flemish ‘Vlaams Belang’ movement.

But most of the focus was turned towards Le Pen and her Bulgarian counterpart Veselin Mareshki. “Europe is changing before our eyes. The patriotic wave is on the rise and it shows what kind of Europe voters want,” Mareshki began, calling the rise of right-wing parties across the continent “an irreversible tendency” that will save Europe and its traditional values.

Other speakers mostly pointed fingers at the EU’s bureaucracy and authoritarian tendencies.

Greek ‘New Right’ leader Failos Kranidiotis slated the Left, NGOs, George Soros and the bankers, one after the other, for ruining the nations of Europe, finally calling the EU a “crippled empire”.

“Greece’s sovereignty is in danger : our borders are in danger and people want to settle in our country, mainly Muslim men. We want to stop this illegal immigration. We really need to free ourselves from Soros’ influence in our society”, he stated.

Le Pen: “You can’t buy us – You can’t corrupt us”

Le Pen took the floor last, and was more vehement and passionate than most of the other speakers.

She warned of a European open-door migration policy that aims to destroy the core values of the nations of the continent.

“You should know what will happen if you don’t react to the migration wave. There are entire villages in France, which are dominated mostly by migrants that turn them into ghettos and are controlled by gangs,” she stated.

“Those who have barricaded themselves behind the glass facades of Brussels think they can buy everything – well, you can’t buy us! You can’t corrupt us! We want voluntary cooperation between free nations, not an imposed one,” she added.

Regarding the Wetern Balkans Le Pen said that the further expansion of the EU is not relevant, and that her envisaged “European alliance of free nations” would welcome any sovereign state that shared its values.

Source: balkan insight, MENF