Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will visit Rome on Monday to talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni before the summit of the 27 EU member states, at which decisions will be made on key positions in the European Union, reported France Presse, quoted by BTA.
His press secretary, Bertalan Havasi, confirmed yesterday the information about the visit, but did not give further details.
The two ultra-conservative leaders want Europe to take heed of the "message" sent by citizens in the June 6-9 European elections, which saw a sharp rise in votes for far-right parties. However, according to diplomatic sources, the European People's Party (EPP, right), the biggest political force in Parliament, which supports the reappointment of Ursula von der Leyen as head of the Commission, tried to use its advantage during the talks at the beginning of the week.
Another compromise summit is expected to take place in Brussels on June 27 and 28. The distribution should take into account the political balance in the EU after the elections, as well as the geographical balance.
Gorgia Meloni, who emerged stronger from the election, intends to influence the negotiations for the "top posts" and to "win a leading role for Italy". She described as "surreal" the fact that the other leaders negotiated the posts without representatives from her camp.
"It is difficult because the coalition of the EPP, liberals and social democrats has already reached an agreement," Orban added on Monday evening.
His FIDES party is one of the non-aligned members of the European Parliament and wanted to join the European Conservatives and Reformists group, which also includes Meloni's "Italian Brothers" party. But the talks seem to have gotten off to a bad start as several members have voiced their disapproval. There are serious disagreements, especially over the Russian offensive in Ukraine. Orban refuses to send any military aid to Kiev and maintains close ties with the Kremlin, AFP recalls.
Meanwhile, his new rival, the dissident Peter Magyar, joined the EPP along with the other members of his TISA party. He won almost 30% of the vote on June 9, while with 44% of the vote, the vote for FIDES was the lowest since 2010.