Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks during the Party of European Socialists annual meeting in Lisbon, Portugal, December 8, 2018
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez Saturday called on the European socialists to be cautious about the rising extreme-right in Europe and said they "should do much more."
Party of European Socialists (PES) convened in Portugal's capital Lisbon to discuss the joint strategies ahead of the Europe Parliament (EP) elections to be held on May 26, 2019.
Speaking at the 11th congress of PES, Spanish Prime Minister Sanchez stressed that the socialists of Europe had to do self-criticizing before EP elections and step into action against the rising extreme-right.
"The explosion of extreme-right in Europe, the authoritarian attitude and symptoms experienced amid Brexit are obvious; what is done [so far] is not sufficient and we should do more," he asserted.
Spanish premier went on to say that one wouldn't support Europe and anti-Europe powers simultaneously at the elections. He added that the European socialists shouldn't wait as if their hands were tied and "break all the chains to progress."
On the other side, PES elected Dutch Frans Timmermans, the serving EU Commission's First Vice-President, as the common candidate for the commission's presidency.
In his speech to the delegates and attendees, Timmermans said: "These are not ordinary elections. These elections are about the soul of Europe. We need to adapt to a changing world. We are the political force with the willingness and capacity to do this. We need to write a new social contract with Europe’s citizens."
In addition, the European People's Party from right-wing nominated German Manfred Weber for the presidency.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, also the leader of far-right League Party, Saturday said that Europe had to "revive its soul lost for the sake of globalization.”League Party organized a demonstration in capital Rome's Piazza del Popolo (People’s Square), with the slogans such as: "Italians first!", "Italy, rise again!".League Party has been in the coalition government alongside with anti-system Five Starts Movement since July, and the far-right Italian party reiterated anti-refugee, Islam and European views during the demonstration.Speaking during the organization, League Party head Salvini said that Europe was moving towards sinking. "There is a need of a Europe that would re-emerge its identity and soul lost by some people in the name of globalization," he said.Salvini stressed that they wanted to build a Europe based on employment, respect and progressiveness. "How can one guarantee employment and economic growth written in the agreements after seeing what's going on in Europe? Have a look at the emerging financial crisis in very strong Germany, think about the yellow vest demonstrations. Violence is never right, but those who planted the seeds of poverty and fraud now bear the brunt," he said.Salvini went onto note that there wouldn't be any additional taxes in 2019 state-budget, which had triggered tension between Italy and the EU Commission after the latter rejected it."The real racists are those who think of emptying the African Continent," he said, adding that Africans didn’t expect charity but instead looked forward to developing in their own country.The Family Minister Lorenzo Fontana also gave a speech at the demonstration; he called on the Italian Christian families not to forget their traditional values against globalization. Lorenzo said that they "shouldn't give up on their Christian values for the sake of toleration", noting that cross symbol should be present at the classrooms.On the other hand, the left-wing parties of Italy criticized League Party for not postponing its demonstration in Rome despite that the country was mourning for six people who were killed following the stampede in a disco in Ancona city.
Italian right hits Rome, chants 'Italians first!'