Hungary’s prime minister travels to Meloni in Rome ahead of an EU summit, warning of a “flood of migrants”.
“Coalition on war and migration”: this is how Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán described a possible future EU leadership under renewed Commission President Ursula van der Leyen. Conservatives, social democrats and liberals are “moving increasingly to the left”, and those with a majority in the new European Parliament have already reached an agreement, the right-wing populist told his meeting on Friday. With German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) in Berlin. Hungary will take over the Council presidency from Belgium on July 1, giving the country a key role in setting issues in the EU Council of Ministers.
Next weekend’s EU summit will decide on filling top EU jobs after the June 9 European elections. In an interview with Hungarian state radio, Orban said it was a “contest that has already been thrown”. “A warmongering, anti-business and pro-immigrant coalition has emerged in the EU.”
“Weber as the Devil”
German Manfred Weber, group leader of the conservative European People’s Party (EPP), the force with the largest number of votes in the European Parliament, played the role of a “beelzebub” – a ghost or devil – in the formation of this coalition. Weber was “Hungary’s old enemy and villain” and van der Leyen compared him to “a little altar boy”.
A coalition of “Weberians” will implement the so-called “Soros Plan”, Orban continued. According to this, Hungarian-born American billionaire and philanthropist George Soros is trying to flood Europe with immigrants to rob European countries of their Christian and national identity. “There’s a population exchange going on in Europe, white, Christian, traditional – let’s say European – population is decreasing, but the number of imported immigrants is increasing.”
Orbán will travel to Rome on Monday for talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ahead of the EU summit. Like the Hungarian, Meloni is pushing to strengthen far-right parties to resonate in European elections when it comes to filling the EU’s top posts.
ANO opts out of renewal
Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party belongs to the Eurosceptic group of European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), which is likely to be the third-strongest force in the new EU parliament. Orbán’s Fidesz, on the other hand, is still unincorporated after leaving the EPP three years ago.
Liberals lose seven more MPs after heavy losses in European elections: On Friday, Czech party ANO announced it was leaving the renewal parliamentary group led by media tycoon Andrej Babiš. Still, the liberal camp is unlikely to walk away empty-handed in splitting the top job: Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas is considered the favorite to succeed Joseph Borel as EU foreign affairs representative. As EU Council President, former Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa is seen as a representative of the Social Democrats, and Van der Leyen’s (EPP) second term in office is seen as a certainty. (ag./ed.)
