In Rome on Monday for talks with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said hundreds of thousands of jobs may be lost in the next decade if a European competitiveness fails to materialise.

Europe’s biggest problem now is its decline in competitiveness, Orbán told a joint press conference with Meloni, adding that Hungary’s EU rotating presidency would put a European competitiveness pact centre stage.

Hungary and Italy have a common interest in a successful and competitive European economy, as well as in a policy that does not isolate them from partners outside Europe, Orbán said. European industry must be robust, with green transition working “in cooperation rather than against it”, he said.

Meanwhile, he said the importance of Italy-Hungary cooperation spanned the economy and defence policy, and this should be broadened to include energy too, noting that a gas pipeline will be built connecting the two countries’ networks via Slovenia.

He noted that Slovenia had until now held out on an agreement to connecting Italy and Hungary’s gas networks.

Regarding economic ties between the two countries, Orbán said Italy is Hungary’s 5th most important economic partner, with trade doubling in the past decade and exports reaching records last year.

He welcomed that 600 Italian companies currently employ 20,000 people in Hungary.

Hungary and Italy have recently cooperated in developing the Triest port and a logistics project in Ukraine, he added.

In defence cooperation, Italy’s contingent of troops stationed in Hungary is the largest, with 256 Italian troops integrated into NATO’s command in the country, he said.

Regarding the EU enlargement to include the Western Balkans, he said it was “shameful and unacceptable” that those countries had been waiting for a membership for 15 years. “We should say yes or no, but we shouldn’t do this.”

Meanwhile, in connection with illegal migration, Orbán said Hungary supported Italy’s proposal regarding a comprehensive European strategy on African development. Africa’s population is expected to grow by 750 million people in the coming 20 years, he said. Europe will either have to come up with a plan to develop Africa “to keep Africans home” or face waves of mass migration it is ill-prepared to defend itself against, he added.

On the subject of how EU posts are assigned, Orbán said the heads of EU institutions should not be selected on a party political basis, adding that he would not back the relevant “party agreement”.

As the longest-serving prime minister in the EU, Orbán said he saw “the root of European problems” in a 2014 decision of the European Commission’s then-president “to turn the political body into a political player”. That process had been ongoing ever since, he said.

He said currently three parties divided the most important posts among themselves, putting EU institutions on a party political basis, he said. This resulted in “government and opposition”, which was antithetical to the inclusivity at the root of the European ideal, he said.

“Everyone should be included; no country should feel they are in a minority or opposition,” he said.

Orbán said that during talks with Meloni he had not discussed party politics, adding that those issues had been concluded during last week’s Brussels summit.

Orbán said he had made it clear his Fidesz party would not sit in the same group as an “anti-Hungarian Romanian party”. “There is nothing to negotiate about; we are not going to sit in a group like that.”

At the same time, Orbán said he and Meloni agreed they both remained committed to the cooperation of right-wing parties, even if they did not sit in the same parliamentary group.

Meloni: Italy supports Hungary’s EU presidency programme

Italy supports Hungary’s programme for its upcoming European Union presidency, with its focus on the challenges posed by demographic decline, as well as improving competitiveness and European defence capabilities, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Monday.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Rome, Meloni said the “new European approach, which has recently taken shape” regarding issues such as the protection of the EU’s borders, the stand against illegal migration and cooperation with African countries, “must be boosted”.

Regarding the war in Ukraine, Meloni also thanked Hungary for enabling important decisions in the EU and NATO, “even if opinions were not always aligned.” Also, Meloni said she appreciated that the Hungarian presidency would focus on the EU integration of the Western Balkans.

Foreign minister Szijjártó: Rebuilding European competitiveness key task ahead

A key task ahead will be to revitalise European economic competitiveness, Péter Szijjártó, the foreign minister, said on Facebook on Monday after meeting Italian EU affairs minister Raffaele Fitto in Rome. Szijjártó noted that Italy is Hungary’s fifth most important trading partner, and Hungarian exports were worth 8.5 billion euros last year, a record amount. Italian companies, he added, make up the 11th biggest investor community in Hungary, employing 20,000 people.

Trans Austria Gas pipeline could add to Hungary’s energy security

The Trans Austrian Gas pipeline could contribute to strengthening the security of Hungary’s energy supply, the minister of foreign affairs and trade said after meeting the top officials of the gas pipeline’s operator, Trans Austria Gasleitung, in Vienna on Tuesday.

According to a statement from the ministry, Peter Szijjarto told public media that the pipeline could be a “good security reserve”, giving Hungary access to LNG arriving at ports in Italy. He said that Hungary would not give up its sovereign energy policy. He acknowledged the need to diversify energy supply, but said that did not mean giving up existing, reliable sources of energy.

Szijjarto noted that Hungary’s gas supply was secured with a large share of it arriving via the TurkStream pipeline. “But it gives extra security to have alternative supply routes coming into play, and the pipeline delivering gas from Italy via Austria to central Euope could be one,” the foreign minister said.

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