Orbán: Italy important ally of Hungary

Prime Minister Viktor Orbán met Lorenzo Fontana, the head of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies, in Budapest on Thursday, the prime minister’s press chief said.

Italy is one of Hungary’s most important allies, a key partner in bilateral cooperation as well as in the European Union and NATO, Bertalan Havasi cited Orbán as saying.

Orbán and Fontana agreed that Hungary and Italy were linked by their geographical proximity, history and shared views on ideological and social issues, the statement said.

Economic ties are also strengthening, and Italy was Hungary’s fifth largest trading partner in 2022, it added.

“We’re observing with concern the pressure illegal migration is putting Italy under,” Orbán said, adding that Hungary also witnessed the situation worsening on the Western Balkans route.

Both countries are committed to stopping illegal migration, reinforcing the EU’s external borders and to developing more effective repatriation strategies, Orbán and Fontana agreed, according to the statement.

President Novák meets top Italian parliamentarian

President Katalin Novák on Thursday discussed European Union enlargement and the fight against terrorism with Lorenzo Fontana, the head of Italy’s Chamber of Deputies.

Novák said on Facebook that a strong alliance between similar-minded states like Hungary and Italy was important.

“We will continue to fight for family values as we have done so for years,” she said.

Novák: Hungarians must take future into their own hands

Hungarians must take the future into their own hands and mould it for themselves, President Katalin Novák told members of the Hungarian Permanent Conference and the Hungarian Diaspora Council on Thursday, at an event held in Parliament.

Referring to the Hungarian population, Novák said it was not only possible to halt the tendency of the population to shrink but to reverse it. The Carpathian Basin, she added, would become “the cradle that cradles children. Let the Carpathian Basin be the wellspring of life,” the president said.

László Kövér, the Speaker of Parliament, told the same event that crises harboured positive outcomes, and “Hungarians have a chance to win the 21st century” rather than being saddled with losing 20th.

For Hungarian communities abroad, ethnic politics have not lost their raison d’etre, he said, and national minorities and national majorities alike needed to assert their national interests. Such communities, he added, sought to preserve themselves and their homeland in the coming century did not want to “disappear into the abyss of history”.

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