Rome, Sept. 6, (dpa/GNA) – Hungary’s Viktor Orbán on Friday said he would support a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky.
Orbán called a meeting between the two leaders “necessary” at an economic conference in Cernobbio, northern Italy, according to the Italian ANSA news agency.
In his speech at the Ambrosetti Forum, the Hungarian prime minister criticized what he described as the prevailing view in Europe that a ceasefire in the war in Ukraine must be preceded by dialogue and a peace plan.
Instead, he said a ceasefire should instead come first, ahead of talks on an eventual peace plan.
Orbán, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, also warned that migration is increasingly undermining the European structure.
Italy and other countries with high levels of immigration have a “serious problem,” Orbán argued, while calling Italian Prime Minister Girogia Meloni – a fellow right-wing populist – his “Christian sister.”
The prime minister also said he hopes Republican Donald Trump wins the US presidential election in November, and criticized the EU’s European Green Deal, which he said is harming the continent’s economic competitiveness.
In the past, other EU states have raised concerns about Orbán for a visit to see Trump, as well as trips to Moscow and Beijing, amid the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and trade tensions between China and the EU.
Hungary’s presidency has also been critcized by several EU member states and some are boycotting meetings hosted by Budapest.