Orbán explores alliances with ultraconservatives in meetings with Meloni and Morawiecki before the EU summit

BRUSSELS, June 17 () –

The Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, explored this Monday in meetings prior to the summit of EU Heads of State and Government possible alliances with other ultra-conservative leaders, such as the Italian Giorgia Meloni and the former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki; since his party Fidesz has 10 seats in the European Parliament after last Sunday’s elections but is without a group since its suspension from the European People’s Party (EPP).

In statements to the press on the sidelines of the meeting with Meloni and other leaders of the European extreme right, Orbán has avoided answering the questions about what the future of Fidesz is in the European Parliament and has limited himself to predicting that it will be “brilliant”, without clarifying whether he is looking to fit into the group of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) of which the Brothers of Italy of Meloni and Vox are part or in that of Identity and Democracy (ID), which is led by Marine Le Pen’s National Group.

Orbán’s meeting with Meloni focused on “evaluating the results” of the European elections, although they also talked about the negotiations in the European Council to decide the distribution of senior EU officials and the program for the next six-month presidency of the Council. of the EU that Hungary will assume on July 1, as detailed by a spokesperson for the Hungarian Prime Minister.

Later, he also met with the former ultra-conservative Polish Prime Minister Morawiecki, with whom he discussed “the union of European right-wing forces”, according to the same spokesperson.

In statements collected by the Italian agency AdnKronos, Orbán said that his meeting with Meloni “went well” and that “it is always positive to collaborate with the Italians”, although he avoided giving more details of a meeting after which the Italian Prime Minister He did not want to make statements.

Regarding Von der Leyen’s options to repeat as head of the European Commission, which Budapest has already made clear in recent weeks that it does not approve, Orbán has asked to wait to see how the informal leaders’ dinner held this afternoon in Brussels. “After dinner we will have things clearer. Everything has to be defined now,” the Hungarian president concluded.

Tonight, the heads of state and government of the EU are seeking an agreement to distribute the presidencies of the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament, as well as the new head of diplomacy to take over from Josep Borrell.

In the case of the presidency of the community Executive, which Von der Leyen aspires to revalidate, the decision must be made by a qualified majority of the 27, so Orbán’s reserves would not be enough to stop it. If the leaders reach an agreement, the appointment must be submitted to the vote of the plenary session of the European Parliament where the EPP assumes that it has sufficient support from European socialists and liberals for Von der Leyen to pass the exam without having to appeal. to the votes of the extreme right, since this could make him lose the support of the main forces.