A few days before Viktor Orbán met “his hero,” Matteo Salvini, secretary of the Northern League, Zsolt Bayer wrote an opinion piece in Magyar Idők in which he cautiously noted that Salvini’s position within the Italian government is less secure than his forceful anti-refugee actions would indicate. There are many Italian politicians in the coalition government, in which the Northern League is the junior partner, who don’t wholeheartedly support Salvini’s policies.
And indeed. Stefano Patuanelli, the leader of the 5 Star Movement/M5S’s parliamentary delegation, made it clear to a Hungarian journalist that the meeting between Orbán and Salvini has nothing to do with the Italian government. Otherwise, Salvini, as secretary of the League, “is free to meet with whomever he wants.” Patuanelli added that “there is no Salvini-Orbán axis” and that the Italian government supports the plans for “refugee quotas.” The M5S politician went so far as to reject any comparison between his party’s “social populism based on ethical considerations and Fidesz’s sovereigntist, neo-conservative populism.”
Such comments didn’t seem to bode well for Viktor Orbán, whose trip to Milan was heralded as the opening of an “alliance between like-minded governments.” But from the statements made after the meeting it appeared that the main topic of the conversation between the two men was not so much about fighting migration as about the strategies they should follow in view of the forthcoming European parliamentary elections. Salvini would like to create a new political formation within the European parliament called the League of Leagues. For such a formation, the membership of the strong Fidesz contingent in Brussels is a must. But this would involve Fidesz’s leaving the European People’s Party, which Orbán judges to be far too risky.
At the press conference Orbán, in answering an Italian journalist, explained his views regarding the future of the European Union. “The European situation is simple. There are two camps. Macron wants to destroy the European People’s Party; he is the one who leads those political forces that support migration. Macron is the leader of them. And there are those of us who want to end migration. There is a huge debate about this issue within the EPP as well, but we would like to see our views accepted within the EPP.” And that means that Orbán, most likely wisely, doesn’t want to jump on Salvini’s bandwagon as far as the League of Leagues is concerned. All decisions have therefore been postponed until after the EP elections in May. Magyar Hang (Hungarian Voice) assessed the relationship between Salvini and Orbán as “an alliance against Macron.”
Viktor Orbán is obviously delighted
Although I personally believe that the meeting’s primary goal was the creation of a united front as far as European politics are concerned, the issue of migration remained an important issue, especially for Salvini, whose treatment of the refugees has been severely criticized if not condemned throughout Europe. Therefore, Salvini welcomed and fiercely defended his decision to have a talk with Orbán, although domestically it might not have been the wisest move on his part. But what kind of assistance could Orbán offer him in his battle against the migrants heading toward the Italian shores? Salvini received plenty of praise but not much else. Orbán declared that “Matteo Salvini’s mission is to prove that the migrants can be halted not only on land but also at sea.” In that endeavor “Hungary will support him.” Orbán, not surprisingly, was unable to elaborate on the exact nature of Hungary’s assistance in stopping immigration into Italy. Yet Salvini optimistically announced that as far as migration is concerned they are “close to the solution, and he can hardly wait to continue their work, which has already begun.” I must say that this Salvini statement puzzles me. I suspect that it is merely hot air with no basis whatsoever, unless we can believe one of the “analysts” of a government-financed think tank who told the Hungarian state television tonight that the very fact that Viktor Orbán, one of the strongest and most influential politicians of Europe, visited Salvini is, in and of itself, significant assistance.
There was a demonstration organized by Italy’s Democratic Party, which Pesti Srácok described as a “failed” party, though it seems to have gathered quite a crowd. As usual, the reported numbers vary greatly, from 3,000 to 25,000, depending on the source. The news of the Hungarian authorities’ refusal to feed those refugees waiting for the results of their appeal had obviously spread already to Italy. Somewhat surprisingly, Orbán was also accused of anti-Semitism. The crowd found Salvini’s meeting with Orbán shameful, although it is hard to say which man should be more ashamed, Salvini or Orbán.
