The conservative champion, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, is a politician with very strong geopolitical views and a willingness to implement those views, even against fierce pressure.
On the one hand we have his heroic anti-war stance as in The Hungary that 'redefines' Orbán's relationship with NATO will not participate in any operation in Ukraine.
On the other hand, we have a leader who calls for the right to organize and seize power in the European Union, as in 'The EU leadership must go': Hungarian Prime Minister Orbán starts campaign for European elections with a call to 'occupy Brussels'.
So it stands to reason that Orbán would call for the unification of two of the continent's leading conservative figures, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and French party leader Marine Le Pen.
Meloni is currently on good footing, such as Conservative Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni's Italy is the fastest growing European economy, leaving liberal Germany behind.
She has also expressed hope for a united right, as in Italian Prime Minister Meloni is running in the European elections in June, wants to 'bring together the centre-right forces and send the left into the opposition'.
That said, the relationship with Marine Le Pen would be far from close. Indeed, we usually see Le Pen working with other conservative forces in Italy, as in Conservative League: Italian Salvini and French Le Pen united against mass migration, ahead of next year's EU elections.
But Marine Le Pen has now publicly asked Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to form a 'right-wing supergroup' in the next European Parliament – a call echoed by Orbán.
Politics reported:
“In an interview with the French weekly Le Puntthe Hungarian Prime Minister said that “the future of the sovereigntist camp in Europe, and of the right in general, now lies in the hands of two women,” arguing that if the French far-right figurehead and the Italian leader work together “within a single group or a coalition, they will be a force for Europe'.
Meloni's party, Brothers of Italy, currently sits in the EU parliament together with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), while Le Pen's National Rally is part of the Identity and Democracy (ID) group.”
With conservatives expected to rise in the June 6-9 EU elections, Le Pen is calling for a single right-wing group.
Such a group could become the second force in Parliament.
“Orbán shares Le Pen's vision. The momentum that would result from such a partnership “could be enough to reform the configuration of the European right, or even replace the European People's Party,” he said.
Orbán's party left the European People's Party (EPP) in 2021.
As he holds talks to join Meloni's 'European Conservatives and Reformers', he wants to understand the ECR's relationship with Le Pen's 'Identity and Democracy' – which the Hungarians favor – and the EPP, which Orbán criticizes as being 'under German influence'.
“Apart from the number of seats a particular party wins, the most important thing, in my opinion, will be the number of MEPs who are willing to continue the war in Ukraine and the number who will be in favor of ending it.” said Orbán, who has repeatedly opposed European sanctions on Russia and aid packages for Ukraine as the country fends off Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin's large-scale invasion.
