Italy’s Northern League leader Matteo Salvini has released a text message he received from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán attending a European Union summit in Brussels in which the prime minister assured him that Hungary was “on Italy’s side”.
In the text message Salvini posted on Facebook, PM Orbán noted that before sending the message, he had told reporters in Brussels that Hungary firmly stood by Italy. The prime minister earlier told the media that if European Union leaders failed to reach an agreement on the bloc’s next long-term budget and post-pandemic recovery package, it would be because of the Netherlands.
According to MTI, the prime minister said the Netherlands wanted to introduce a new mechanism to monitor how European Union funds are paid out to and spent by member states. Concerning the proportion between the non-refundable grants and loans contained within the recovery package, PM Orbán said that Hungary supported the Italian position that money should be granted to countries that need it most urgently.