Meloni and Orban had a bilateral summit in Rome, a few days before the European Council of 27 and 28 June which will decide the European Union summits for the next five years. Many topics are on the table, from migration to birth rates. At the end, Orban attacked the majority in the EU which “does not involve” parties like his.
The Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban (whose escort was involved in a serious road accident in Germany this morning) met today in a face-to-face meeting which, on paper, was linked to the fact that from July Hungary will have the rotating presidency of the Council of the Union European. In fact, however, the summit inevitably also touched on the topics of greatest interest in recent weeks: European appointments and the new balance in Brussels. Meloni did not mention the topic in the final press conference, while Orban closed his speech with an attack on the main European parties who “decide the top jobs in the EU and do not involve the others”.
As mentioned, the formal reason for the visit was the Hungarian presidency of the Council of the European Union. The discussion, therefore, touched on various themes: “Starting from the decision to include among the priorities a challenge that I have also highlighted several times, the demographic one”, said President Meloni. “There birth rate it is a problem that affects the entire continent, if we do not address it our social and welfare systems will become unsustainable”, insisted the leader of the Brothers of Italy.
There was also discussion about “the conflict in Ukraine“, about “our positions are not always coincident”, said Meloni. This is a euphemism, considering that in the past Orban’s government has blocked the sending of military aid to Kiev by the EU several times. But the president of the Council turned the issue around: “I really appreciate the position that Hungary has shown so far within the EU and NATO, allowing other member states and allies to take very important decisions even when they did not completely agree with it”.
What Giorgia Meloni and Joe Biden talked about in the bilateral meeting at the G7 in Puglia
In addition, “we explored the priorities on the government of migration flows. We agree that the approach developed in recent months must be consolidated: defense of Europe’s external borders, fight against mass illegal immigration, fight against traffickers, commitment to building a partnership with the countries of departure and transit”. And “also experiment with new forms” of migration policies, “such as the Italy-Albania protocol”. On this point, Orban underlined: “In the next twenty years the population of Africa will increase by 750 million people, there are two solutions: Either we start a development project for Africa to make Africans stay at home, or there will be mass immigration that we won’t be able to manage.”
In a few days, as Meloni recalled, the two will meet again for the European Council which should close the negotiations on appointments of European leaders for the next five years. On this point, the Italian leader did not comment further, while Orban launched an invective against the three parties that will form the next majority in the European Parliament: Socialists, Popolari and the liberals of Renew. “I think I am the prime minister who has been in his place for the longest time in the EU, I have seen what has happened since 1998, and what has gone wrong in the meantime.”
According to the Hungarian Prime Minister, “the root of Europe’s problems lies in the fact that before the 2014 elections the European Commission was neutral, the guardian of the Treaties.” Afterwards, however, “a process began in which the Commission took on a role of non-neutrality”. Today, therefore, “three parties form a coalition, decide the top European roles and do not involve the others“, and “this philosophy does not correspond to European collaboration. The EU project, when it was born, was not this”. Therefore, concluded Orban, “any country cannot be allowed to feel that it is in a minority in the EU. This is a path that should not be followed from a philosophical or ideological point of view.”
