Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni believes that the only viable path which takes everyone’s interests into account is to have a debate on how to stop illegal immigration into Europe. ‘The only serious approach involves cooperation with the origin and transit countries,’ she emphasized at a press event in Milan on Tuesday.
The Prime Minister expressed concern about the lack of proper respect for agriculture as a crucial element of the European economy within the European Union. He criticized unfavourable regulations imposed in several countries, making the situation difficult for farmers.
According to press reports, Giorgia Meloni is in an endeavour to persuade Viktor Orbán to withdraw his veto on the €50 billion EU aid to Ukraine, offering a unique deal in return. Kyiv could soon face severe challenges or even collapse without substantial foreign financial assistance.
Meloni emphasized her familiarity with the views of the Hungarian Prime Minister, which diverge from those she holds concerning Ukraine’s accession to the European Union. However, she noted that, in her opinion, the inflexibility and strictness of the European Commission have led to the Hungarian Prime Minister’s perspectives.
On the first day of the summit, President Katalin Novák presented ‘the 12 points of the freedom fight of families’, while Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni stated that family matters and increasing low birth rates lie at the heart of the programme of her government. She also praised Hungary as a great example of effective family policies.
Katalin Novák thanked Giorgia Meloni for accepting her invitation to speak at the fifth Budapest Demographic Summit, which will take place between 14 and 16 September. The summit is one of Hungary’s largest international conferences on demographics.
The conservative Prime Minister of Italy is aiming to ease the migration pressure on Europe by having the migrants’ transit countries and countries of origin more involved in managing the migration flow. She has already made some headway on this front.
‘I am not disappointed by the attitude of Poland and Hungary, I am never disappointed by those who defend their national interests,’ the Italian premier declared following the meeting of the European Council, adding that ‘there is an excellent relationship with Poland and Hungary’.
The Twitter owner and eccentric centibillionaire travelled to Rome to discuss a number of issues with Italy’s recently elected conservative Prime Minister. Only a day earlier, he publicly went after Joe Biden for his statement about children.
Hungarian President Katalin Novák urged peace talks between Russia and Ukraine during her visit to Rome earlier this week.
‘Italy will not be an accomplice of human trafficking,’ argued Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.
‘I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Christian,’ Meloni has famously proclaimed. Now she is also Italy’s first female prime minister.
With the victory of Giorgia Meloni and the rise of the centre-right in Italy, Warsaw and Budapest have gained another important ally in their pursuit of a European conservative renaissance.
On Tuesday, Danube Institute organised an event, where a panel discussion on the historic election in Italy was hosted. Commentators discussed how Giorgia Meloni’s win could affect European politics, and what impact it could have on Hungary.
Defying threats to her life and a concerted media smear campaign, Giorgia Meloni is set to write history as Italy’s first female prime minister.
‘Conservatives are the only parties in Europe that are rising, and the left is afraid. We can be certain that a paradigm shift would wipe out many leftist politicians, and the elites that pay them clearly don’t want that to happen. They want obedient politicians who follow their agenda. On 9 June Conservatives have a mission: the reconquest of our sovereignty, the reconquest of our security, the reconquest of our economy and industry, the reconquest of our agriculture, the reconquest of our identity.’
Since 2013, migration pressure on Europe has become the new normal, and in recent years the situation has once again worsened: 2023 saw the highest number of illegal immigrants reaching Europe since 2016. Due to the worsening security situation in the Sahel region and the economic difficulties afflicting North Africa, the Middle East, and Central Asia, nearly one million people applied for asylum in the EU.
‘The forthcoming European Parliament elections hold particular significance…As Orbán emphasized in his address on 15 March: “We are on the brink of a sovereign revolution in America and Europe, where normal life can be restored, and a great era of Western nations can commence.”’
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán stated that Hungary needs economic relations, not ideological ones, with both East and West in terms of future high technologies.
Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico is in a stable but very serious condition after he was shot at point-blank range by a 71-year-old perpetrator, described as a poet and political activist in media reports, on Wednesday afternoon. The international community responded with shock to the news of the attempted assassination, as world leaders expressed their support for Slovakia.
Speaking to the Hungarian media after the meeting, János Bóka evaluated that the past five-year institutional cycle has been fundamentally marked by failures in the European Union, which faced numerous historical challenges to which it failed to provide adequate responses.
According to French journalist Charles Sapin right-wing forces are unlikely to achieve the sweeping turnaround many anticipate in the upcoming European Parliament elections. However, in his opinion they could still shift the political centre of gravity to the right.
The European Parliament (EP) elections to be held from 6 to 9 June 2024 will be the tenth opportunity in the history of the integration for EU citizens to come to the polls. Whether Ursula von der Leyen remains President of the European Commission is still uncertain, with several other possible candidates emerging.
‘It was thought that the BRI, aside enhancing China’s geo-political clout, would have not just boosted trade and growth, it would have also created sustainable development and social stability in the countries involved. On the contrary, the social impact of large infrastructure projects were are often implemented through human rights violations.’
Ursula von der Leyen has signalled her willingness to depart from current practices and collaborate with the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) political group should she secure a second term as Commission President. Von der Leyen unveiled this idea during her speech at the Maastricht Debate on Monday, a move that has stirred considerable backlash from the traditional allies of the EPP.
‘When a country achieves success like Hungary, it’s crucial to ensure that less successful countries also thrive by promoting the blueprint, pushing the strategy, and supporting one another,’ Mexican conservative film producer Eduardo Verástegui stressed in an interview with Hungarian Conservative on the sidelines of CPAC Hungary 2024.
‘Elite structures tend to consolidate a prevailing view whether that be the dictatorship of the proletariat or the dictatorship of the ‘trahison des clercs’ of Brussels. There seems to be no leadership in Europe; a reflection of the growing bureau government of Brussels. Europe, the crucible of nation states since the Treaty of Westphalia (1648), is in crisis. It is the days of Weimar all over again. A resurgent right, a distrust of the organs of democracy. When representative democracy is exposed as leaderless and corruption, there is an inevitable pushback.’
While one might envision the European right as a cohesive entity, significant differences exist between the two prominent EP political groups, ECR and ID, particularly on crucial issues such as the war in Ukraine. As the summer EP elections draw nearer, the pressing question revolves around whether and how the conservative forces across the continent can be unified in the new parliament.
Even liberals did not take kindly to the decision by Brussels district mayor Emir Kir to use police force to try and shut down a right-wing conference featuring Viktor Orbán among the speakers. Kir faced severe criticism from Belgium’s left-wing prime minister, and the Conseil d’État, Belgium’s highest court, subsequently annulled his order.
‘People in Europe want change, and they will certainly voice this in the elections, which will result in a shift in the political balance of the European Parliament. However, I don’t think this is a revolutionary change. It will hardly change the balance of power in the board too much, but there is at least a chance that the atmosphere will change. We’ll see where all this could lead us.’
Hungarian Conservative is a quarterly magazine on contemporary political, philosophical and cultural issues from a conservative perspective.