France, April 19 -- Hosted by Matteo Salvini, leader of Italy's League party, the rally gathered members of Patriots for Europe, the alliance of nationalist, Eurosceptic parties that makes up the third-biggest bloc in the European Parliament.

It marked an attempt to regroup after Orban, a co-founder of the Patriots and one of the most entrenched hard-right figures within the EU, was voted out of power after 16 years in a decisive election loss to his pro-EU opponent Peter Magyar.

"Dear Viktor, you have defended the borders and fought human traffickers and arms traffickers. Let us all continue this fight together, for freedom and the rule of law," Salvini told the crowd of around 2,000 gathered in Milan's central square. ...