Europe’s far right gathers in Milan after Orban defeatSign up now: Gain ST’s newsletters delivered to your inboxOutgoing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban was voted from power after 16 years in a crushing election defeat to pro-EU opposition figure Peter Magyar.PHOTO: AFPDeeperDive is a beta AI feature. Refer to full articles for the facts.Learn MorePublished Apr 18, 2026, 10:40 AMUpdated Apr 18, 2026, 10:40 AMMILAN – Far-right leaders from Europe gather in Milan on April 18 for a rally against irregular immigration and Brussels bureaucracy, the first since the electoral defeat of nationalist Viktor Orban in Hungary. The Patriots for Europe party, the third-largest bloc in the European Parliament, has called on its supporters to meet at 1300 GMT (9pm Singapore time) in front of Milan’s Duomo cathedral.Organiser Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy’s nationalist League party, has deemed that “symbol of Christianity” ideal for the event billed as “Without Fear – in Europe Masters in our Own Home!”France’s Jordan Bardella and the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders have confirmed their attendance following invitations by Mr Salvini, who is also deputy prime minister in the coalition government of Ms Giorgia Meloni.Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis has also been invited. Spain, where the Vox party has made strong gains, has not yet announced a participant.Nor has Hungary, where one of the co-founders of the Patriots, Mr Orban, was voted from power after 16 years in a crushing election defeat to pro-EU opposition figure Peter Magyar.Ahead of that election, the president of France’s National Rally, Ms Marine Le Pen, went to Budapest to try and shore up Mr Orban, stressing that 2027 was shaping up to be “absolutely fundamental” for the far right.Major contests in France, Italy, Spain and Poland would give potential far-right winners “the means to radically change the course of the European Union from within”, she said….An election poster for Viktor Orbán has been defaced with ‘Liar Fidesz’, referring to the prime minister’s political party, which was shunned by voters because of corruption and frustration over high prices. Photograph: Ferenc Isza/AFP/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenAn election poster for Viktor Orbán has been defaced with ‘Liar Fidesz’, referring to the prime minister’s political party, which was shunned by voters because of corruption and frustration over high prices. Photograph: Ferenc Isza/AFP/Getty ImagesHungary’s voters shunned Orbán – but it may be too early to celebrate end of Europe’s far rightLeaders of Poland and Germany hail Péter Magyar’s majority as a turning of the tide – but analysts say there were other reasons for defeat of prime ministerFor Poland’s Donald Tusk, the crushing defeat of Hungary’s illiberal prime minister, Viktor Orbán, after 16 years in office was evidence that the world was no longer “condemned to authoritarian and corrupt governments”.Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, also believes the two-thirds majority secured by Orbán’s centre-right challenger, Péter Magyar, in Sunday’s elections was “a clear signal against rightwing populism” that showed “the pendulum is swinging back”.But analysts warn that while the result of Hungary’s parliamentary ballot may have dealt Europe’s far right a temporary blow, it was far from marking a turn of the national-populist tide – and opponents would be foolish to see it as such.“Of course there is a symbolic element,” said Sarah de Lange, an expert on the far right at the Netherlands’ Leiden University. “Europe’s longest-serving far-right leader, the inspiration for them all, was defeated – even when the system was rigged in his favour….
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