Matteo Salvini sure is an ambitious guy. Not everyone sets themselves the task of ‘saving’ European values (even civilization) from the barbarian hoards storming across the Mediterranean. Kudos also for his courage in standing up to the Brussels Bunker (EU headquarters) whose weak-kneed humanitarian policies are undermining said values.
Salvini is playing a long game – he is just 45 years old and started small with few obvious missteps to become Italy’s most influential politician. These days his ambitions go beyond Italian borders as he and his buddy Jean-Marie Le Pen position themselves as leaders of Europe’s Far-Right neo-nationalist movement. They are making common cause with xenophobic autocrats in Eastern Europe (Viktor Orbán in Hungary, Andrzej Duda in Poland). Salvini is bluntly optimistic, stating: ‘Changing Europe is a big goal but it is at our fingertips’, and is making noises about running to be Chair of the European Commission.
