Rome - One of Europe’s most prominent far-right leaders, Matteo Salvini of Italy’s Northern League, said on Tuesday that he backed Republican primary frontrunner Donald Trump as the next president of the United States.
“Hello from the United States. Go, Donald GO!” Salvini posted on his Facebook page after a meeting with Trump. In an accompanying picture, Salvini and Trump could be seen smiling and holding their thumbs up.
In another Facebook post, Salvini said he preferred the “legality and security proposed by Trump” to the “disastrous do-goodism” of US President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which he accused Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi of supporting.
The Northern League shares with Trump a preference for closed-door policies on migration.
According to an average of opinion polls compiled by the Termometro Politico website, Salvini’s far-right movement is Italy’s third-most popular party, with a little more than 14 percent support.
DPA