'We had to fight a different kind of mafia,' Magyar says ahead of talks with Meloni
The lack of information about what the leaders will discuss has led to speculation about how relations between Budapest and Rome might look after 16 years of Viktor Orbán's government.
Published on 06/05/2026 - 13:44 GMT+2
Hungary’s Prime Minister-elect Péter Magyar will meet Italian PM Giorgia Meloni for talks on Thursday, Rome said in a statement on Wednesday but gave no further details about what the pair would talk about.
The lack of information has led to speculation about what Magyar and Meloni could discuss and how relations between Budapest and Rome might look different after 16 years of government under previous PM Viktor Orbán.
Orbán and Meloni, who both sit on the political right, were allies, although Italy did not have the same degree of close cooperation with Hungary as it did to Robert Fico’s Slovakia or Poland under previous premier, Mateusz Morawiecki.
While both Meloni and Orbán were united in the fight against immigration and are key figures in the illiberal, right-wing camp, Italy’s PM has a far more pragmatic and less confrontational approach to the European Union than Orbán did.
And Meloni is far more pro-Ukraine as it continues to fight off Russia’s full-scale invasion than Orbán, widely seen as the most Moscow-friendly leader in Europe, ever was.
Moreover, the two parties belong to different blocs in the European Parliament.
Orbán’s Fidesz is a member of the Patriots for Europe group, while Meloni’s Brothers of Italy are the dominant force in the European Conservatives and Reformists.
Fidesz tried to join that party group in 2024 but there was pushback from several leaders, including Meloni, and the Hungarians ultimately abandoned the idea.
Hungary’s incoming governing party, Tisza, is a member of a third group in the European Parliament, the European People's Party.
Nevertheless, it seems possible that Meloni will also be able to establish a working relationship with Magyar.
In recent weeks, several of Orbán's allies have expressed an openness to working with the new Hungarian government, with US President Donald Trump saying he thinks Magyar is a good man and that he will do a good job.
Magyar: 'We had to fight a different kind of mafia in Hungary'
Magyar left Hungary for Italy on Tuesday to attend the Riviera Film Festival. At the festival in Sestri Levante, the documentary film Spring Wind - The Awakening, which depicts the rise of the future prime minister, was screened.
Speaking at the festival, Magyar said that Italy is "our home too" and that "it is good to be back in Europe after 16 years." He also praised the long-standing friendship between Italy and Hungary.
According to Magyar, the documentary played a decisive role in the landslide election victory of the Tisza Party on 12 April. He recalled that the film was seen by 3.3 million people in two days before the election and that Tisza received 3.3 million votes in the election.
"In a way, it helped to open the eyes of the Hungarian people," Italian news agency ANSA quoted Magyar as saying.
The future prime minister said that in his campaign over the past two years he had repeatedly mentioned the prosecutor Giovanni Falcone and the judge Paolo Borsellino, who were murdered in a mafia attack in Sicily in 1992.
"We had to fight a different type of mafia in Hungary," he added.
"We were also fighting the mafia, the political-economic mafia. That's why I saw a similarity with them...they didn't survive the fight, but the whole Italian nation owes them a debt of gratitude, that's why I mentioned them several times in the election campaign, I know that the Hungarian people have grasped the analogy and we will succeed."
