The European Parliament elections in May will "change" the European Union, Italy's far-right interior minister and deputy premier Matteo Salvini claimed on Friday in a TV interview.
"When elected politicians use terms like puppets, slaves, clowns and racists, that is not dialogue," Salvini told Italian chat show Povera Patria in an interview due to be aired late Friday on public broadcaster Rai2.
"But on 26 May, Europe is going to change," Salvini said.
Salvini's comments came after an attack on the populist government earlier this week by the European Parliament's Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt during a plenary session attended by Italy's populist premier Giuseppe Conte.
Populist movements around Europe are hoping to triumph in the May elections, ousting 'establishment' politicians like Verhofstadt, a former Belgian prime minister and leader of the centrist Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group (ALDE) in the European Parliament.
