Giuseppe Terranova, the deputy editor of the online newspaper West, interviews Ludovic de Danne, French politician Marine Le Pen’s chief advisor for European affairs.
“We prefer the Northern League to Beppe Grillo.” These are the words of Ludovic de Danne, Marine Le Pen’s chief advisor for European affairs. He’s not one to mince his words. In an interview with West, he said: “The Five Star Movement, as well as saying no to the euro, doesn’t have a clear and coherent plan. On their blogs, they’ve published ridiculous, defamatory articles about the Front National and our leaders.”
The Northern League is very different. According to de Danne, it has what it takes to be part of a transnational alliance led by the partnership of Le Pen-Geert Wilders (leader of the Dutch PVV) in the upcoming European elections.
Who are the other possible collaborators? In Austria there is the FPÖ (which found success with Jorg Haider); Sweden has the Sweden Democrats; there is Vlaams Belang in Belgium; and Sharon Bonici in Malta. These are certainly allies, to which you could perhaps add Godfrey Bloom’s British movement and all the middle-Europe and Baltic parties interested in this cause.
It’s a trans-border battleship consisting of nationalists. But what are their objectives? One is to complete a project that Marine Le Pen has been working on for at least two years, which is to persuade European citizens to express their dissent, not by withholding their vote but by voting in large numbers for this new political strata. It promises to “revolutionize the system from within” by ensuring a fight to the death against:
- Undemocratic EU federalism
- Mass immigration
- Unfair and unequal globalization
- Growing EU integration
De Danne adds:
“Ours is an alliance of serious and professional parties, that care about protecting the real Europe from the EU, which actually doesn’t care at all about Europeans and their countries. We have to go in a new direction. The aim is to form a streamlined and efficient confederation in Europe, to get rid of the Commission’s counterproductive, excessive power and its biggest disaster: the euro.”
Giuseppe Terranova is deputy editor of the online newspaper West. He has a Ph.D. in politics and comparative law of the Euro-Mediterranean region, from Università Kore in Enna, Italy. As an expert on immigration policies, he is a member of the European Centre for International Affairs in Brussels and assistant professor at the department for sustainable development (working with Prof. A Giordano) at Luiss University of Rome. Read other articles by Giuseppe.
