European far-right parties gathered in Italy on Sunday with the goal of reshaping the European Union after next year's European Parliament elections. They aim to toughen the bloc's approach to immigration and soften its climate policies in order to protect jobs and industry. The meeting, hosted by Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, was inspired by the recent general elections in the Netherlands, where Geert Wilders' anti-immigration Freedom Party (PVV) achieved a surprise win.

Salvini stated that the objective of the gathering was for the far-right parties to become at least the third-largest group in the EU parliament, after the centre-right and socialists, and to have a decisive impact. The far-right Identity and Democracy (ID) group is currently the sixth-largest in the EU Assembly, but according to polling data, it is projected to move up to the fourth position.