"Li-ber-tad! Li-ber-tad!" In the old arena of the Palacio Vistalegre in Madrid on Sunday, May 19, the stands overflowed with people, Spanish flags twirled and thunderous applause greeted far-right leaders from Europe and beyond, in response to an invitation from the Spanish nationalist party Vox. They repeated the words "wokism," "globalism" and "socialism" in their speeches, eliciting appropriate booing from the crowd. Another word, "freedom," was chanted over and over again while insults against the Spanish president's left-wing government regularly rose from the stands, where almost 10,000 people were seated.

After two days of meetings and round tables organized on May 17 and 18 in the Spanish capital by the European Conservatives and Reformists (CRE) group, to which Vox belongs, on "freedom in the face of cancel culture," "the criminal left," "the conservative alternative to illegal immigration" or "Judeo-Christian tourism," the Spanish party decided to broaden the spectrum of participants at the big Viva 24 closing rally, the launch pad for the European elections on June 9.

The stated aim of Vox president Santiago Abascal was also to prepare "a global alliance of patriots," in the face of "socialist globalism," "woke totalitarianism" and "feminist supremacism," at a time when far-right parties are expected to surge in the European elections.

Rassemblement National (far right, RN) leader Marine Le Pen, although a member of the European Parliament's Identity and Democracy (ID) group, was also there. She called for June 9 to be "a day of deliverance and hope" and warned against the risk of turning the European Union into a "centralized European superstate." She also tapped into a widely shared anti-immigration discourse in Vistalegre. "Entire areas of my country, France, are given over to migratory submersion and today escape the authority of the state," she said, denouncing a "situation of migratory separatism" and calling for "starting the reorientation of the European Union."

Portuguese André Ventura, president of the Chega (Enough) party and member of ID, called for "strong borders" against "Islamist and Muslim immigration" and defined the parties in attendance as the "last hope" when "the future of our civilization" is at stake.

Calling the June 9 elections "decisive" for "putting an end to anti-natural majorities" between the right-wing European People's Party (EPP) and Europe's Social Democrats, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni appeared via videoconference. Applauded, she warned against "attempts to erase our Christian roots" and "call into question the family."

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