The vote in favor of Orbán from the Italian right polarizes the elections

In the Italian election campaign there is more talk of foreign policy than ever.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
19 September 2022 Monday 19:30
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The vote in favor of Orbán from the Italian right polarizes the elections

In the Italian election campaign there is more talk of foreign policy than ever. The last unsuspected protagonist is being the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, a close ally of Giorgia Meloni, of Brothers of Italy, and Matteo Salvini, of the League, whose name appears in all the rallies and television interviews since both supported him in the European Parliament last week.

Both the League and the Brothers of Italy sided with him when the European Parliament voted to denounce the "existence of a clear risk of serious violation" by Hungary of the fundamental values ​​of the European Union, which has led the Commission to propose freezing 7,500 million euros to the country from cohesion funds if they do not take measures as soon as possible, especially against corruption. The Italian Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, has already warned them in public that the "interest of the Italians" is to have France and Germany as partners, and not the Visegrad group.

The good relationship between Meloni and Orbán has been evident for years. The far-right invited him to Atreju, a conference organized every year by the Brothers of Italy, which has also been attended by Donald Trump's former adviser, Steve Bannon, or the leader of Vox, Santiago Abascal. They share their ideas of the traditional family, their rejection of immigration or their concept of Christian values ​​in Europe. Her argument is that, by warning Hungary, the EU is doing Russia a favor. “The true anti-Europeanists are those who, at a time when we are under attack and the EU should be more united and stronger than ever, maintain that there is a Europe of series A and another of series B and that they are doing everything to push Hungary in the arms of Putin”, the Italian insisted yesterday in an interview in Il Giornale. In another, she also criticized Brussels' policy against Poland, noting that it is a country that is hosting many Ukrainian refugees.

In Forza Italia, Silvio Berlusconi's party, which has received permission from the EPP to form a coalition with the League and Brothers of Italy, is not liking this debate at all. The tycoon has surprised by warning that if he considers that his partners endanger ties with Europe and NATO, they will leave the Government. "If these people, our allies, whom I trust and respect, went another way, we would not tolerate it," he told RAI. They cannot in any way allow Meloni to insist on the Hungarian issue because his good relationship with his European partners depends on it.

"Either Meloni and Salvini back down and publicly acknowledge that they were wrong with Orbán or they are not fit to govern Italy," criticized former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, a candidate with the 5-Star Movement. The former president of the European Commission Romano Prodi has also warned that “if Italy follows Orbán, Europe will marginalize us”.

Meanwhile, the general secretary of the Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, publicly showed that he prefers other allies: he was received yesterday in Berlin by the German chancellor, also a Social Democrat Olaf Scholz, with whom he discussed the energy crisis.