Le Pen Says Hungary's Orban Backs Launch Of Hard-Right Alliance In Coming Months

PARIS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 27th October, 2021) French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said on Tuesday she had secured the Hungarian prime minister's support of a hard-right alliance she hopes to form in the European Parliament in the coming months.

Viktor Orban's Fidesz and Le Pen's National Rally signed a declaration of 16 right-wing parties in July which accused the EU mainstream of undermining European values but stopped short of announcing a formal alliance. Le Pen also has the support of Italy's League and Austria's Freedom Party.

"He has a very positive attitude toward continuing the work � which we started in July when we signed a common charter on European unity � to consider in the coming months the possible creation of a big group at the European Parliament," she told reporters in Budapest.

Le Pen arrived in the Hungarian capital to meet with Orban six months before the French presidential election, where she will run against mostly leftist contenders. She promised Orban during a press conference that she would seek to "reorient" what she sees as a leftist-leaning EU to promote regionalism.