BUDAPEST, October 6. /TASS/. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has said that Italy and Hungary are the two countries fighting for freedom and they will never "surrender to Brussels, world powers and migrants," Zoltan Kovacs, the state secretary for international communications and relations in the Hungarian prime minister's office, said on his social media X page.
"We are the legal successors of those who fought for freedom in 1848, and we will never give up - either to Brussels, or world powers, or migrants," Kovacs quoted Orban as saying at a celebration of Italy’s League party in Pontida.
"The prime minister also praised [Italian deputy prime minister and League party leader] Matteo Salvini, saying that in Hungary he was seen as a hero for securing Italy's borders and protecting Europe and as a true patriot who deserves to be recognized and not persecuted," Kovacs wrote.
Salvini, who previously served as Italy's interior minister, was put on trial in 2021. At that time, he was no longer a minister, but he was a member of parliament and his party was part of the ruling coalition. At the end of 2021, a trial was due to begin, and its sessions were often postponed. As head of the Interior Ministry he pursued a policy of combating illegal migration. Salvini banned the entry into Italian ports and the disembarkation of 147 migrants from a ship of the Spanish non-governmental organization Open Arms. As a result of the investigation, the politician was accused of illegal detentions and abuse of power.
On October 2, Orban said that Hungary was ready to bring illegal migrants to the main square of Brussels in case of continued pressure on Budapest from the European Union on the issue of combating the influx of illegal immigrants.
Earlier, the Court of Justice of the European Union imposed a 200-million-euro fine on Hungary as well as daily payments of 1 million euros for refusing to comply with previous court rulings related to migrant accommodation rules. As it was explained in the ruling, Budapest's violation of EU asylum laws concerned the restrictions on access to the international protection procedure, the unlawful detention of international protection applicants in transit zones and the failure to respect their right to remain on Hungarian territory pending a final decision on their appeal against the rejection of their application, as well as the removal of illegally staying third-country nationals.