THE Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban scolded the leaders of the far-right parties of Italy and France on Friday for not agreeing to a partnership for the next European Parliament after and the impressive rise of Marine Le Pen’s party in the European elections last weekend.

Such an alliance, if other right-wing MEPs join, “it would be the largest parliamentary group in Europe”, Orban said in an interview with Kossuth Rádió on Friday.

Orban’s comments came after French far-right leader Marine Le Pen presented a united front to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni last month.

“It’s time to come together, it would be really helpful. … I think we should not let such an opportunity pass,” Le Pen told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

Giorgia Meloni’s party Brothers of Italy is part of the European Conservatives and Reformists group in the European Parliament, while Le Pen’s National Rally is part of the Identity and Democracy parliamentary group. Both parties scored major victories in European elections this month, achieving their best ever results.

If the two parties joined forces, they would be the second largest group in the European Parliament, behind the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP), and lead the bloc to the right.

But Meloni has kept her cards closed, flirting with a possible alliance with the EPP and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Orban also claimed on Friday that NATO was planning to build “three big bases in Poland, Slovakia and Romania” to move weapons into Ukraine, efforts he pledged to keep Budapest well away from. “We don’t give a dime of money. We are not providing Hungarian territory,” he said.

“Thirty-one of the 32 NATO member countries want to defeat the Russians. Hungary’s position is that this is wrong, even if we are one in 32,” Orban added.