German AfD Hopes Hungary's Orban To Join Salvini's Right-Wing Alliance Ahead Of EU Vote

YALTA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st April, 2019) The Alternative for Germany (AfD) party hopes that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and his Fidesz party will join Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini's new pan-European alliance of right-wing parties, the European Alliance of People and Nations, Gunnar Lindemann, a member of the Berlin House of Representatives from AfD, told Sputnik.

Media reported earlier in April that Orban's Fidesz party might leave the conservative European People's Party parliamentary group and join or form a new right-wing bloc in the EU legislature. Such media reports became even more frequent after Laszlo Kover, a leading Fidesz politician and Hungarian parliament speaker, held talks with Salvini. However, the party itself has not officially confirmed its plans to leave the European Parliament's biggest group.

"We have with Lega [Nord], with French, with Austrians the coalition of big countries. We hope Viktor Orban with his party to maybe also enter the coalition. He had problems with his fraction lately, so he will be a good friend for us. Budapest is interested," Lindemann said on the sidelines of the Yalta International Economic Forum.

The lawmaker stressed the need to ensure peace in Europe and that there were no taxes and boundaries for business, while decisions should be made by national parliaments rather than by a supreme authority in Brussels.�

"They say Brussels gives us peace. But we still have war in Europe, in Donbas. No one speaks about it, but everyday there are people dying. The European Union gave 3 billion Euros [$3.3 billion] for humanitarian activities, as they said ... I'm very sure this three billion euro from the European Union will be used for military equipment," Lindemann stressed.

Salvini's alliance was formed last week ahead of the European Parliament elections. On Friday, Salvini announced on his Twitter that the French National Rally party had formally joined his bloc. The pan-European coalition also reportedly includes AfD, Austria's Freedom Party, the Danish People's Party, Finland's Finns Party and the Conservative People's Party of Estonia.

The European Parliament elections are slated for May 23-26.