Leaders of Europe's far-right parties have praised the impact of US President Donald Trump's tumultuous first weeks in power, declaring that the EU must replicate his policies to safeguard its future.
At a "Make Europe Great Again" rally in Madrid on Saturday, leaders such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini declared that Trump's policies on energy, immigration, and gender validated their prescriptions for the EU.
"The Trump tornado has changed the world in just a few weeks," Orbán told a gathering of around 2,000 people. "Yesterday we were heretics, today we are mainstream."
The rally took place less than three weeks after Trump took office for his second term and as far-right parties in Europe are on the rise following last year's European elections, where they achieved their best-ever performance.
Marine Le Pen, leader of France's Rassemblement National party, said that since Trump's electoral victory, the world is seeing history accelerate. "We are at a real turning point," she said, adding that "the EU seems to be stunned."
The leaders spoke out against "uncontrolled" immigration and called for an end to the EU's push for clean energy, which they said was harming the bloc's economy. They also attacked "woke" policies on gender and celebrated Trump's declaration that the US will only recognize two genders.
Geert Wilders of the Netherlands' Freedom Party said: "We refuse to bow to the extremist agenda of the woke left. And we refuse to surrender to the guilt feelings of multiculturalism."
"People across Europe want us to restore sanity and moral clarity," he added.
Santiago Abascal, leader of Spain's far-right Vox party, hosted the event.
None of the leaders mentioned two Trump moves that are a source of major concern in Europe: his threat to impose tariffs on European goods to rebalance a trade deficit he has called an "atrocity", and his plan to expel millions of Palestinians from Gaza.
They also did not refer to Trump's demand that Europe spend more on its own defense to reduce its reliance on the US.
Several leaders spoke positively about the Spanish "Reconquista" of parts of Spain controlled by Muslims by Christian rulers in the Middle Ages, with Orbán saying it was an example of the spirit Europe needs today.