05/02/2024 (Agence Europe) – On Wednesday 31 January, Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian Prime Minister and president of Fidesz, announced that his party was “ready to join the Conservatives”, according to Italian media La Stampa and La Repubblica. During the European Council meeting, he met on Thrusday with Giorgia Meloni, Prime Minister of Italy and president of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) party, to discuss the case of Ilaria Salis, an Italian activist on trial in Hungary. “The idea was to join the party before the elections, but at this point we will do so after the vote”, said Mr Orbán. When asked by the press after the European summit, Ms Meloni replied: “I think this is a debate that might open up after the European elections”. Mateusz Morawiecki, a member of Poland’s Law and Justice party (PiS), has spoken out in favour of including Fidesz within ECR party (see EUROPE 13340/26). (AD)