Meloni and Orbán meet to tackle illegal immigration into Europe

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán have met in Rome over key issues such as illegal immigration and international policy.

After the meeting on December 5, Meloni’s office issued a statement that highlighted the willingness of both leaders to strengthen political dialogue and co-ordinate positions on major international subjects.

Orbán’s visit to Italy, the second in under six months, underlined the closeness between the two governments in several areas of common interest.

One of the central points of the meeting was the perceived need to update the European Union’s legal framework to facilitate, speed up and increase the repatriation of immigrants.

Both leaders stressed the importance of exploring innovative strategies to prevent and combat irregular immigration under international and European Union law.

As part of this, the two leaders backed the controversial Italy-Albania agreement, which was designed to transfer migrants to Italian-run centres on Albanian soil.

While this initiative attracted interest from sectors on the European Right, it also faced legal challenges from the Italian and European judiciary, leading to the annulment of transfers of migrants from Egypt and Bangladesh.

In addition to immigration, Meloni and Orbán addressed issues related to the crisis in the Middle East.

They also reiterated their support for what they termed a just and lasting peace in Ukraine based on the UN Charter and international law. Both governments expressed their commitment to the country’s reconstruction. The pair stressed the importance of the international conference scheduled for July 2025 in Rome, under Italian patronage, to co–ordinate efforts in this area.

Meloni and Orbán, regarded as leading figures of the European Right, have had an up-and-down political relationship.

After the June European Parliament elections, speculation abounded that the Romanian AUR party’s entry into the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, of which Meloni’s party is a member, was intended by Meloni to create a “firewall” to prevent Orbán’s Fidesz party from joining. Observers suspect the Italian prime minister calculates she would have more power at the European Commission without Orbán in her group.

Yet the latest meeting in Rome not only strengthened the strategic alliance between Italy and Hungary but also marked a joint effort to lead the European right-wing agenda on key issues such as immigration, security and international reconstruction.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni ruffled feathers on the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women by connecting such violence with immigration. https://t.co/MOeZJ0wucV

— Brussels Signal (@brusselssignal) November 26, 2024