(AFP) Hungary’s anti-immigration Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Italy’s hardline Interior Minister Matteo Salvini moved closer to formal cooperation Thursday for upcoming European Parliament elections, vowing to prevent an “Islamic caliphate” on the continent.
European voters are due to choose a new parliament in elections from May 23-26, and gains for the far right would be a new blow for the bloc’s established leaders after the Brexit crisis.
“We are spectacularly, confidently, openly seeking cooperation with Salvini,” Orban told journalists after talks with Salvini in Budapest.
“Although what actual form that takes we will see … I am convinced that Europe needs an alliance of anti-immigration parties,” he said.
