Europe's right-wing populist youth groups will meet in Rome at the end of March. The young politicians want to network with each other.
Damian Lohr
BERLIN taz | It is a very special group that will embark on a trip to Rome next Saturday. Damian Lohr, chairman of the AfD youth group "Young Alternative", will probably have a look at the Vatican together with officials of right-wing populist organizations from Austria, France, Belgium and England. They were invited by Andrea Crippa, who leads the youth group of the Italian Lega.
Before the cultural program on Saturday, a big event is planned on Friday afternoon at the Rome Hotel Life in the Roman city center. Not only Lohr and Crippa will speak under the headline "The Rebirth of the European Youth", but also Maximilian Krauss, Chairman of the Austrian FPÖ Youth and Jordan Bardella, Chief of the Rassemblement National (RN) in France, as well as representatives of the British Ukip and the Belgian Vlaams Belang. Even the youth of the Putin party United Russia is said to have received an invitation.
The young politicians are thus putting into action what their parties have just announced: a public networking meeting. The Lega youth group had just posted on Facebook that the event is already booked out.
"This is the first big get-together," said Lohr to the taz. "I hope for a network to form." Finally, the parties will consider whether they will work together after the European elections and form a common parliamentary group in the European Parliament. A regular exchange of youth organizations could help that cause.
Lohr travels alone to Rome according to his own account. Unlike Jordan Bardella of the French Rassemblement National, he will not be a member of the European Parliament - the member of the Rhineland-Palatinate parliament has not made it to the European list of AfD. The French right-wing populists, on the other hand, have named 26-year-old Bardella as their top candidate. The confidant of Marine Le Pen is foreseen to particularly win young voters for the party.
The head of the JA, however, is not considered a promotional figurehead for the European elections within his own party. Since the beginning of the year, the "Young Alternative" is categorized as “suspected case” by the constitutional protection agency (Verfassungsschutz) on the base of its anti-constitutional aspirations.