Europe’s far-right leaders applaud Trump and downplay threat of possible U.S. tariffs
MADRID — Europe’s far-right leaders applauded U.S. President Donald Trump’s agenda and spoke of the turning point it presented Europe at an event Saturday organized by Spain’s Vox party in Madrid under the banner “Make Europe Great Again.”
Those gathered included Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Italy’s Deputy Premier Matteo Salvini, French National Rally party leader Marine Le Pen and others.
Salvini and Vox president Santiago Abascal downplayed Trump’s threat to hike tariffs on European imports, saying that the European Union’s taxes and regulations are a bigger danger to Europe’s prosperity.
“The great tariff is the Green Deal and the confiscatory taxes of Brussels and socialist governments across Europe,” said Abascal.
Salvini referenced the “historic opportunity” ahead of Germany’s Feb. 23 election, in which the far-right Alternative for Germany party is polling in second place, behind center-right opposition leader Friedrich Merz’s Union bloc.
“The engine of Europe has come to a halt in the face of the most disastrous government of the post-war period,” Salvini said of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government.
The defense of Europe’s borders against illegal immigration was another topic touched on by every speaker at the two-day event, even though irregular border crossings into the European Union fell sharply in 2024, according to data collected by the bloc’s border control agency Frontex.
Le Pen said that Trump’s election triumph put Europe before a “real change,” and said that the EU had left the continent at the margins of ongoing technological revolutions in artificial intelligence and other realms.
She also said that it was the European leaders present at the gathering, whose Patriots for Europe group has 84 seats in the European Parliament, who had the best chance of communicating and working with Trump.
“We are the only ones that can talk with the new Trump administration,” Le Pen said.
Auburn fires coach Hugh Freeze following 12th loss in his last 15 SEC games
The 56-year-old Freeze failed to fix Auburn’s offensive issues in three years on the Plains, scoring 24 or fewer points in 17 of his 22 league games. He also ended up on the wrong end of too many close matchups, including twice this season thanks partly to questionable calls.
In a ‘disheartening’ era, the nation’s former top mining regulator speaks out
Joe Pizarchik, who led the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement from 2009 to 2017, says Alabama’s move in the wake of a fatal 2024 home explosion increases risks to residents living atop “gassy” coal mines.
‘It’s like feeling the arms of your creator just wrapped around you’: a visit to a special healing Shabbat
Members of Temple Emanu-El in Birmingham gathered recently for their traditional Friday Shabbat service. But this particular service was different, as could be seen by all the people dressed in their finest pink.
Space Command is coming to Huntsville. What might that mean for first-time homebuyers
While Huntsville has been a more affordable market than other growing cities, what’s it been like for those looking for their first home?
Colorado says relocation of Space Command to Alabama is ‘punishment’ for mail-in voting
The litigation announced by Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser asks a federal judge to block the move as unconstitutional.
Breaking down Alabama’s CHOOSE Act
It’s been a year since Alabama legislators passed the CHOOSE Act allowing families to apply for state funds to use towards homeschool expenses and tuition for participating private schools. The Alabama Daily News’ education reporter Trisha Powell Crain has been diving into how the funds are being used. WBHM’s Andrew Gelderman sat down with her to talk about what we’re seeing so far.
