Italy's government and that of Hungary's right-wing premier Viktor Orban have "identical" views on protecting Europe's borders and keeping out illegal immigrants, far-right interior minister Matteo Salvini said Thursday during a visit to Budapest.
"Our position on migrants and that of Hungary's are identical," Salvini told reporters at a press briefing after meeting his Hungarian counterpart Sandor Pintor.
"We need to safeguard European borders and stop the illegal trafficking of human beings. The challenge is not relocating migrants but stopping any more getting in," Salvini added.
He praised the Orban government for securing its 600-kilometre-long border and "knowing how to manage it "rapidly and effectively".
"People can only enter Italy, Hungary and Europe if they have permission," Salvini said.
Salvini, who heads Italy’s far-right League, is trying to put together a Europe-wide alliance of nationalist, anti-immigration parties, and is visiting Budapest in a bid to win over Orban to his cause.
"Happy to meet premier Viktor Orban again and to see with my own eyes how the Hungarian government is fighting illegal immigration," Salvini wrote earlier in a Facebook post.
The "new Europe" emerging from the upcoming 22-26 May European Parliamentary elections and European Union Commission must buttress the bloc's land and sea borders, Salvini's post claimed.
A "review" will also be needed of all the 28-member bloc's accords with non-EU countries that "do no cooperate with repatriation plans for illegal immigrants," the post went on.
Rightwing and populist parties are expected to enjoy a surge of support in this month's European elections.
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