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Statement by Viktor Orban, after his talks with Silvio Berlusconi, President of Forza Italia

10 October 2019, Rome

Balázs Beregi (Hungarian Television): Prime Minister, tonight you met and had talks with the two leaders of Forza Italia, Silvio Berlusconi and Antonio Tajani. Could you tell us something about this?

We touched upon European affairs, Italian-Hungarian relations, and the issue of the European People’s Party. As far as European affairs are concerned, we concluded that we remain committed to the closest possible cooperation between Silvio Berlusconi’s party and Fidesz – including in the European Parliament and every other European institution. With regard to Italian-Hungarian relations, we confirmed that we’re now pursuing economic policy that brings into Hungary investments by companies employing the latest technologies, and we’re counting on Italian companies. Mr. Berlusconi will come to Hungary with a business delegation to examine the investment opportunities. On the subject of the People’s Party, we discussed our very close relationship within it, our determined, shared opposition to migration, our opposition to tax increases, our opposition to economic decisions at European level that undermine competitiveness, and our opposition to elevating tax regulation to the EU level. So we are a party alliance, a partnership within the European People’s Party that wants to work together in the future. They’re very convinced that we will remain in the European People’s Party – but that will be decided later, when relations within the European People’s Party have become clearer. That will take a few more weeks.

Thank you very much!

Thank you.

Photo credit: kormany.hu