Matteo Salvini, leader of the Italian League party, texted a message to Prime Minister and Fidesz president Viktor Orbán on Wednesday, assuring Orbán of his “friendship and closeness to the Hungarian nation” after the MEPs of Hungary’s ruling Fidesz announced to leave the European People’s Party (EPP) family in the European Parliament.
Salvini and Orbán also talked on the phone later in the day, and discussed issues regarding vaccination against the coronavirus, reopening their countries’ economy after easing restrictions, as well as migration and the protection of families, the League party said.
Meanwhile, Jörg Meuthen, the deputy leader of Germany’s radical Alternative fuer Deutschland (AfD) party and an MEP sitting in the Identity and Democracy (ID) party group in the European Parliament, said ID would welcome the Fidesz MEPs among its ranks.
Fidesz’s stance on migration, identity and national sovereignty is “clearly much closer to ID than to EPP,” Meuthen said.
The ID currently counts 76 MEPs of the Italian Lega, the French Rassemblement National and the AfD parties.
In the featured photo: PM Viktor Orbán and League leader Matteo Salvini. Photo by Vivien Cher Benko/PM’s Press Office
