Hungary's populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán spoke on Monday in Brussels with his Italian counterpart Georgia Meloni and former Polish prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki about the prospects of right-wing parties in the European Union.
The consultations on the sidelines of a special EU summit of EU leaders on Monday were confirmed by Orbán's spokesman Bertalan Havasi, the Hungarian state news agency MTI reported.
Speculation is mounting whether Orbán's Fidesz party will align with the Brothers of Italy (Fdl), led by Meloni, and Poland's nationalist conservative Law and Justice party (PiS), to which Morawiecki belongs, in the European Parliament.
The initial outcome of the discussions remains unclear.
Orbán spoke with Meloni about "political issues relating to the European right," the outcome of the June 9 European elections and the Hungarian EU Council Presidency, which begins on July 1, Havasi said.
The conversation with Morawiecki, who led the Polish government from 2017 to 2023, was about a potential merger of the European right, he said.
Continent-wide elections for the European Parliament on June 9 saw the EU's centre-right European People's Party (EPP) group celebrate a victory. Far-right parties also made gains in the vote.
EU leaders are meeting on Monday to discuss who will fill the 27-nation bloc's top posts in Brussels.