Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said the Italians and the Hungarians are two freedom fighter people that never surrender, never give up their freedom and never give up their countries to foreigners.
Speaking in Pontida, in northern Italy, at a rally held by Matteo Salvini's League party on Sunday, PM Orbán said that Hungary on October 6 observed a national day of mourning to pay tribute to the heroes of the 1848/49 revolution and war of independence; adding that at that time the Italian and Hungarian people rose up and fought with arms against foreign rule.
"Italians and Hungarians are two freedom fighter people, and we are their heirs. We will never surrender, we will never give up our freedom, and we will never hand over our country to foreigners. We will not hand it over either to Brussels bureaucrats, or to global financial powers or migrants," PM Orbán said, and added that Italy belonged to Italians and Hungary to Hungarians.
The prime minister called Matteo Salvini a European patriot, who PM Orbán said was celebrated as a hero in Hungary because he had closed the borders and defended the homes of Italians and also defended Europe.
He said Salvini deserved an honour, not a judicial proceeding for that. Orbán called the proceedings launched against Salvini in connection with illegal migration "a disgrace" for the left and the whole of Europe.
Hungary has been successfully fighting against the international left for 14 years, the prime minister said. He said that the mission of Hungarians is to prove that the left can be defeated. "We have defeated them five times," he said.
"We are more successful in governing than the left, the patriots are more successful in governing than the international left,"Orbán said.
He noted that in Hungary there was full employment, tax cuts and wage increases, and measures in place to support entrepreneurs and to protect families.
"We will not allow for a joke to be made of marriage and a clown of those who love their family," the prime minister said.
There is no future without families, he said and noted the provision in the Hungarian basic law that establishes that "marriage is between a man and a woman".
He said the Hungarian constitution also asserts that the father is a man and the mother is a woman, adding that it would stay so "even if the international left stood on its head".
Orbán said Hungary was Europe's safest country, adding that his country protected its borders and did not allow illegal migrants to enter its territory without permission. "The number of migrants in Hungary is zero," he said, adding that "we will not allow for our culture to be changed, Hungary is our home and we want to feel at home in it".
Orbán said that the European left and the Brussels bureaucrats "are today punishing Hungary together because we do not let migrants in, because we protect Europe", making reference to the 200 million euro fine and a daily 1 million euro penalty Hungary had been ordered to pay because it was not letting migrants in. "This is a disgrace, the disgrace of Brussels," he said.
"Italy is a strong, big and rich country, if we have been able to do it, you also can," the prime minister told the rally. "Do not think it is impossible, it is possible, we Hungarians are the living example. Be determined, be brave and follow such great leaders as Matteo Salvini," he said.
Orban warned that "our Europe is in trouble, it is a worse place than it was ten years ago, the streets have become more dangerous, migrants are keeping peaceful European people in fear and do not respect our laws". "We worry about the future of our children, we fear to think about how things will be in 10-20 years," he said.
He said that the EU had been established for the sake of peace, but there was now war in Europe, the Ukrainian-Russian war, and instead of peace Brussels had become a warring party. "Meanwhile, the bureaucrats are destroying the European economy," Orban said, adding that Europeans were finding it more and more difficult to support their families, and it was becoming more and more difficult for European companies to survive.
The prime minister said that "the European left has messed up everything and the bureaucrats in Brussels do not serve the interests of Europeans, but their own. And if it continues like this, the EU will be lost".
Meanwhile, in the European Parliament the representatives of the patriots get deprived of their rights, in Brussels the sovereignists are persecuted, he said.
Orbán said, "even though in our hearts Hungary and Italy come first, we cannot turn our back to Brussels, because if we do, we leave it to the left and they will overthrow the national governments of the patriots, just as they did in Poland." "Brussels must be taken back from the bureaucrats and given to the European people," he said.
"We must unite," Orbán said, noting that first a right-wing government had been formed in Italy, then Geert Wilders had won the election in the Netherlands, Herbert Kickl the one in Austria and Andrej Babis the senate election in Czechia.
He noted the formation of the European group of Patriots, which is already the third largest group in the EP. "We must strengthen ourselves and continue along the path of unifying the right in Europe," the prime minister said.
"At the end of the struggle, Paris will change direction, we will retake Warsaw, and we will be the greatest political power in Europe. Then we will take politics in Brussels in our hands and make Europe great, strong, rich and free again," he said.