Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met in Rome to discuss key issues such as illegal immigration and international politics, Brussels Signal reports.
Following the December 5 meeting, Meloni’s office released a statement stressing the willingness of both leaders to strengthen political dialogue and coordinate positions on major international issues.
Orbán’s visit to Italy, the second in less than six months, underlined the closeness between the two governments in several areas of mutual interest. One of the central issues of the meeting was the need to update the European Union’s legal framework to facilitate, accelerate and expand the repatriation of immigrants.
The two leaders emphasised the importance of exploring innovative strategies to prevent and combat illegal immigration within the framework of international and European Union law. As part of this work, they supported a controversial agreement between Italy and Albania to transfer migrants to Italian-run centres on Albanian territory.
While the initiative attracted interest from the European right, it also faced legal challenges from Italian and European judicial authorities, leading to the cancellation of migrant transfers from Egypt and Bangladesh.
In addition to immigration, Meloni and Orbán touched on issues related to the crisis in the Middle East.
They also reiterated their support, they said, for a just and lasting peace in Ukraine based on the UN Charter and international law. Both governments expressed their commitment to rebuilding the country. The pair emphasised the importance of an international conference planned for July 2025 in Rome under Italian patronage to coordinate efforts in this area.
Meloni and Orbán, considered leading figures on the European right, have an up-and-down political relationship.
After the June European Parliament elections, there was speculation that the Romanian party AUR’s entry into the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, of which Meloni’s party is a member, was undertaken by Meloni to create a “firewall” to prevent Orbán’s Fidesz party from joining it. Observers suspect that the Italian prime minister believes that without Orbán in her group, she will have more power in the European Commission.
Nevertheless, the latest meeting in Rome not only strengthened the strategic alliance between Italy and Hungary, but also signalled a joint effort to steer the European right-wing agenda on key issues such as immigration, security and international reconstruction.
