Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban hailed his close relationship with Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on Friday, describing her as his "Christian sister", and said cultural identity was playing a growing role in European politics.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban meet at Palazzo Chigi, in Rome, Italy, June 24, 2024. Reuters/Guglielmo Mangiapane
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban hailed his close relationship with Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni on Friday, describing her as his "Christian sister", and said cultural identity was playing a growing role in European politics.
Meloni, who has been in power since 2022 at helm of a right-wing coalition, joined a post-Fascist party in her youth, but now governs as a national conservative.
"She is not just a colleague of (mine), she is a Christian sister of mine," Orban told journalists on the sidelines of the TEHA economic forum in Cernobbio, northern Italy.
Sharing cultural roots previously "did not play a lot of a role in European politics, but now we are approaching a new era," the Hungarian leader added.
Before winning power, Meloni famously described herself in a speech as "I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am a Christian, and you can't take that away from me".
She and Orban see eye to eye on a range of issues, including on the need for tougher immigration policies and defending traditional family values against what they call the LGBT lobby.
Orban has cast himself as a defender of Hungary's cultural identity against Muslim immigration and a protector of Christian values against Western liberalism.
Meloni, however, is a staunch defender of Ukraine, while Orban is the European Union leader most criticalof the bloc's support for Kyiv's war against its Russian invader.
Reporting by Giancarlo Navach and Elvira Pollina
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