Now live. Joint statements by Giorgia Meloni with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán

Good afternoon everyone. Thank you for being here. I'm happy to welcome here in Rome today the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. As you know, Hungary will assume the presidency of the Council of the European Union from July 1st. Prime Minister Orbán is resting these days in the main European capitals, to illustrate the priorities of the Hungarian presidency. I want to thank Viktor for the attention he wanted to dedicate to Italy with this visit. I want to say that I appreciate very much and share the priorities that have been identified by the Hungarian presidency. Starting from the decision not to include among those priorities a challenge that I have also allowed myself to mention many times for the competence of the European Union, which is the demographic challenge. It is one, as you know, from my point of view, of the preconditions that serve to build a strong Europe, a Europe that knows how to return to be a protagonist in the world. Childbirth is a problem that affects the whole continent. Today, no European nation reaches the so-called substitution rate, that is, the minimum number of children per woman that guarantees the continuity of the population. If we do not face this challenge together and fail to reverse this trend, in the medium and long term, our economic systems, our social systems, our welfare systems will become unsustainable. For this reason, we have always considered that we should work together on this matter. I am very happy that the Hungarian presidency has decided to put this issue among its priorities. During our meeting, we also made the point about the excellent state of bilateral relations between Rome and Budapest. Hungary is clearly an important European partner. It is a precious ally for us, also in the NATO area. I am very satisfied with the intensification of our political dialogue and the strengthening of our economic relations in recent months. Italian companies are increasingly interested in the Hungarian market in terms of exports and investments. Italy supports the multinational battalion of NATO under Hungarian leadership. We are satisfied with the excellent level of cooperation reached in particular in the Balkans, a region that both Italy and Hungary consider strategic. It is no coincidence that one of the main focuses of the Hungarian presidency is the attention towards the Western Balkans, towards the enlargement that, as you know, I like to call reunification. There is a perfect harmony between Italy and Hungary on this. We have also discussed the conflict in Ukraine. We know very well that our positions are not always coincidental. That is why I really appreciate the position that Hungary has shown so far, both in the European Union and in the NATO area, allowing the other Member States, allowing the Allies to make very important decisions even when they were not completely in agreement. With Victory, in any case, we have reiterated the undisputed support for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine. We look at Ukraine together with great attention to its reconstruction, which is obviously the best way to look beyond the war, to imagine a Ukraine that is rebuilt, that can prosper, that can grow. As you know, Italy is very committed to this. We will organize the Ukraine Recovery Conference here in 2025, and so we have also talked about this. We also share the Hungarian program's focus on competitiveness, which is another fundamental focus proposed by the Presidency. Clearly, European competitiveness, but also European defense, the new approach that Hungary proposes in terms of agricultural policies, attention to cohesion policies, so issues that have also been, from our point of view, subject to particular indications that have come with the last European elections from the citizens of the continent. We have also deepened our meeting the Hungarian action priorities as regards the government of the migratory flows. Here, too, we agree. We agree on the fact that the new European approach that has developed in recent months should be consolidated, also thanks to the impulse of Italy, which is based on some pillars, namely the defense of the external borders of the European Union, the contrast to mass illegal immigration, the struggle against traffickers, the commitment to build with the nations of origin and transit a new model of cooperation and partnership that is beneficial for everyone, also, clearly, to go to the basis of the causes of migration. But we also agree on the fact that it is also important to experiment new forms and innovative solutions in terms of immigration. I quote, as I have already done, the Italian-Albanian protocol, which, as you know, has also become the subject of a letter signed by the majority of member countries addressed to the Commission, which asks to carry out this approach also for the future, defining it as a solution to be followed. In short, there are, as often happens, many issues on which we agree. I would like to thank the Hungarian Prime Minister for having made this visit to us. Obviously, we will meet again in a few days. On the 27th and 28th, as you know, the first European Council of this new legislature is convened. On that occasion, we will have a chance to discuss the strategic agenda and, therefore, also, we hope, what should be the direction to be given to the European Union in the coming years. But, in short, I want to make a big shout-out to Prime Minister Orban for these six months of presidency of the European Council and, of course, to reiterate once again the full support of Italy for these important months that we have ahead of us. Thank you, Prime Minister. Kind Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen, since 1st July, Hungary has taken over the presidency of the European Council as President. The Hungarian program is ready. Last Friday, I was in Berlin. Now, I am here and, next Wednesday, I will be in Paris with the aim of getting the support of the great European nations for our Hungarian program. First of all, I would like to mention what we did not talk about today. We did not talk about party issues because we closed everything last Monday. On Monday, in Brussels, I made it clear that we follow a national policy. Our national interests, and we cannot be part of a political family of which a Romanian party is part, which is anti-Hungarian, so this is our very clear position. We cannot adhere to a similar faction. We agreed on Monday to reiterate that, in spite of this, we are all committed to cooperation, collaboration, and strengthening collaboration between right-wing and European parties without being part of the same faction. Now, I would like to list the issues we talked about today. We talked about the relations between Italy and Hungary, about the economic dimension of these relations, about the Hungarian economy following a trajectory upwards. Italy is the fifth largest economic partner for Hungary. In the last ten years, we have quadrupled our relations. In Hungary, we have 600 Italian companies, 20,000 Hungarians, of whom we are grateful. Our export has also jumped forward. We have two projects in development, between Italy and Hungary. On the one hand, the development of the port of Trieste. On the other hand, in Ukraine, in Gorond, a small town, where we are trying to implement a Hungarian-Italian logistics project. We have strong cooperation in defence between the two countries. The soldiers, the military forces that are present in Hungary, the Italians are the most numerous. We have 250 Italian soldiers that are present in Hungary within the NATO collaboration. Italian and Hungarian soldiers work together in the Balkans. We have 260 Hungarians in the Balkans, and also in the KFOR, where we have more than 600 Hungarian soldiers and many more Italians. Therefore, it is evident that the collaboration between the two countries is not only about the economy, but also about the policy of defence. We want to expand our collaboration also in the energy sector, which is a novelty. As far as the energy connections between Italy and Hungary are concerned, so far there has been an obstacle, namely Slovenia, because Slovenia said no to this transport through Slovenia. So Slovenia has changed its mind, and there will be a terminal for GLI, for LG, for liquid gas, and with the collaboration of Slovenia, we will have a direct connection between Italy and Hungary. As far as the presidency of Hungary is concerned, we want to put on the table a great project that is already ready, which is called the European Competitiveness Pact, because we think that the main problem of Europe at the moment is competitiveness. Both Italians and Hungarians have the interest that the European economy is successful and competitive. Another common interest is that Europe does not isolate itself from third-party partners outside Europe, and our common interest is to have a strong industry and that the green transition is collaborative and does not act against the European economy. All this will be contained in this new European Competitiveness Pact, because I am convinced that without a better competitiveness the European jobs will be lost during the next decade. Another issue that we have touched on is the Western Balkans, the integration of this region into the European Union. I told my colleague, the Italian Prime Minister, that it is shameful that these countries that have presented themselves to join the European Union have been waiting for 15 years, 15 years and two months, to join the European Union. I think this is unacceptable. Let's say yes or no, but let's not do this to them. We talked about illegal migration. You are closer to Africa than we are, but migrants also come to us, so the situation in Africa concerns us too. According to our calculations, in the next 20 years the population of Africa will increase by 750 million people, so there will be a demographic jump two times greater in the next 20 years in Africa than in Europe. So there are two solutions. Either we have a development project for Africa with which we can keep the Africans at home, or there will be a mass migration that we will not be able to manage. So we support everything that the Italian Prime Minister has proposed, that is, a pan-European development strategy for the development of Africa. And one last observation that I would like to make about the division of positions, if I may, that is happening in Brussels. I think I am the Prime Minister who has been in his place in the European Union for a long time. I saw what happened in 1998 when we tried to join, to join the European Union. I saw what happened in 2010 and I also know what happened in the meantime. I think that the root of the European problems we are suffering from lies in the fact that in 2014, when there were the European elections, the European Commission, the president of the European Commission at the time, was a neutral commission and was the guardian of the treaties. A new process has begun in which the Commission has assumed a different role, of non-neutrality. And the situation is getting worse. Now there are three parties that form a coalition and divide the European top jobs. They do not involve the others and this philosophy does not correspond to European collaboration. So they make decisions on European policy on a party level. So there will be a majority, a minority, there will be a government and there will also be an opposition. But the project of the European Union, when they invented the European Union, the project was not this. The project was to involve everyone, big and small. You cannot allow any country in the European Union to be in the minority, to be in opposition. So until now everything was based on involvement. Now it is not like that. And in my opinion this is a path that should not follow neither from a philosophical point of view nor from an ideological point of view. So this party pact of the division of the top jobs, we as Hungary cannot support it. There are many interesting things, but I do not want to go into too much detail. Thank you for your attention.