There is no danger of neo-Nazism
rearing its head in Austria, Deputy Premier, Transport Minister
and rightwing League party leader Matteo Salvini said after
Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani on Monday
said Austria needs a government led by conservatives that
excludes the Freedom Party (FPO) after it scored the first
far-right national parliamentary election win in the country
since World War II, ahead of the ruling conservative Austrian
People's Party, with the Forza Italia (FI) leader saying
"neo-Nazi resurgence must be rejected".
Salvini said about the FPO, which is in the European Patriots
group along with the League and other hard right nationalist
parties: "It is a beautiful result for our allies. This morning
someone was talking about Nazism: either there is someone who
sleeps badly, who eats heavily, because I don't think there is a
neo-Nazi alarm in France, or in Germany, Austria and the
Netherlands".
Speaking on the sidelines of a convention of municipalities
group ANCI Lombardia, the League leader, whose formerly
secessionist and now 'sovereigntist' party is a partner of
Tajani's centre-right post Berlusconi, FI, added:
"When citizens vote you have to respect the popular vote.
"If the Austrians have decided that the first party is the Party
of Freedoms, which has the issues of security, fight against
illegal immigration, defence of work and family, among their
priorities, it means that this is how the Austrians think.
"They will be at Pontida and nobody will be offended," Salvini
concluded, referring to the League's annual rally at its
mythical birthplace in northern Italy.
Paolo Borchia, head of the League delegation to the European
Parliament, also criticised Tajani for calling the FPO
neo-Nazis.
"It is ridiculous to call the Fpö Nazis," he said.
"Curious but moody are the post-vote analyses coming from the
parties that have been misruling in Europe for years," he said
"When establishment forces are soundly rejected at the ballot
box, they start seeing fascists and Nazis everywhere.
"Politically unacceptable, a few hours after the commemoration
of the (WWII SS) Marzabotto massacre, to talk about fascism and
Nazism, using horrors instrumentally with a practice that
belongs to the left without arguments.
"It is the voters who decide in Austria, not Tajani."
The deputy premier, foreign minister and FI leader had earlier
said he thought a form of government led by conservatives that
excludes the Freedom Party "is necessary" in Austria.
"Political battles are always won at the centre to prevent
right-wing and left-wing extremists from creating damage.
"Any Neo-Nazi resurgence must be rejected", Tajani told Rainews
a day after the elections in Austria.
"The far right alone is never able to win, as we have seen in
France", he said.
Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally is another member of
the Patriots group along with Hungarian strongman Vikto Orban's
Fidesz.
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