One month earlier, Europe's radical activists from the Identitarian Movement joined forces with global far-right figures to examine a strategy gaining traction amid the growing acceptance of nationalist far-right programs centered on remigration throughout much of the Global North.

Following the January 2024 disclosure by the German investigative outlet Correctiv about talks at a closed gathering in Potsdam, large crowds demonstrated across Germany to oppose the expanding influence of this political current.

The reporting detailed how a compact yet powerful assembly convened in Potsdam on 25 November 2023. Participants included figures from the surging far-right party Alternative for Germany (AfD), representatives of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its offshoot the Value Union, along with the former head of the domestic intelligence agency BVT.

They convened to hear from Martin Sellner, a prominent advocate of the Identitarian Movement. Sellner's central argument on remigration sparked widespread public backlash in Germany.

Remigration emerged as a proposed solution rooted in the Great Replacement conspiracy theory, outlining legal routes to remove Europe's non-white inhabitants.

Great Replacement theory

The replacement conspiracy claims secret forces intend to supplant the white Christian population with non-white groups from differing cultures, faiths and customs, notably Muslims.

Variants trace back to French writer Renaud Camus. One version, the Eurabia plot, alleges European leaders colluded with Middle Eastern and North African counterparts to substitute native residents with Muslim arrivals.

Another version accuses Jewish financier George Soros of orchestrating Europe's demographic shift by facilitating inflows from Africa and Muslim-majority countries.

Elements of these narratives surface in notions of a leftist-Islamist pact, sometimes labeled Islamo-Gauchisme, echoing earlier antisemitic tropes such as Judeo-Bolshevism.

Remigration as a policy

At the Potsdam session, attendees recognized the barriers posed by constitutional limits on such measures against non-white groups.

They therefore explored legal avenues for remigration, proposing tactics to generate pressure that would prompt undesired populations to depart voluntarily.

Crucially, the approach would extend to German nationals, distinguishing between white and non-white citizens to preserve what Sellner later termed the ethnocultural continuity of European nations.

Ultimately, the objective centers on restoring a perceived white character to Western societies by establishing homogeneous populations and redirecting non-white groups to ancestral origins.

Protest and normalisation

Although street demonstrations immediately condemned the proposals and the ties between far-right and center-right actors, other far-right leaders including those of Austria's FPÖ openly endorsed the concepts.

The AfD issued statements clarifying that its interpretation of remigration did not involve deporting non-white citizens, yet the term entered mainstream discourse and allowed the party to reference it more freely.

While parties such as France's National Rally initially avoided the idea, recent developments including endorsement by the Donald Trump administration have shifted positions.

Under the MAGA framework, the US State Department announced plans for an Office of Remigration aimed at curbing immigration inflows.

With backing from the world's leading power, the concept can no longer be dismissed as fringe.

Against this backdrop of efforts to restore a white Western identity, the recent remigration summit illustrates the evolving strategies of far-right movements across the Global North.

On 30 May, the Identitarian Movement hosted its second Remigration Summit at Quinta da Salmanha in Figueira da Foz, Portugal.

After an initial event in Milan in May 2025, the gathering drew strength from stringent US deportation measures and attracted over 500 attendees representing parties and movements from Austria, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, the UK and the United States.

20-30 project for 'racially pure' white society

The organizers' site framed the event as advancing sovereignty, identity and demographic renewal, a coded reference to creating racially uniform Western societies.

Remigration is presented as the remedy for decades of replacement migration and multiculturalism that have undermined national cohesion.

The process is envisioned over twenty to thirty years, targeting the return of illegal immigrants and certain legal migrants while applying pressure on non-assimilated parallel societies to restore cultural uniformity.

The notion of parallel societies originated in Germany to describe the supposed self-isolation of non-white communities formed by guest workers decades ago, shifting responsibility away from host societies that treated them as temporary labor rather than equal members.

References to non-assimilated parallel societies typically denote groups retaining distinct religious identities, especially Muslims, contradicting assertions that such policies remain legal and constitutional.

US participation

Particularly notable were two American VIP guests: Gregory Bovino, the former Border Patrol chief known for a distinctive appearance, and white nationalist Jared Taylor.

Bovino, who oversaw high-profile ICE operations and was later removed after an incident involving a nurse in Minneapolis, shared insights on addressing what he described as illegal aliens undermining European culture.

Further normalization occurs amid America's broader rightward shift.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently faulted European elites for immigration policies, labeling incoming ideologies an invasion during a speech in France.

The president himself stated during a European visit that leaders must halt the terrible invasion, claiming immigration is destroying Europe.

Far-right networks now seek to embed remigration as official policy to exclude non-white populations.

Europe's trajectory hinges on the strength of anti-fascist resistance to this normalized racist framework.