Premier Giorgia Meloni and Hungarian
Prime Minister Viktor Orban met again early on Thursday before
this week's extraordinary European summit on the EU budget and
aid to Ukraine, sources said.
The two leaders had already met during the night, at the central
Brussels hotel where Meloni is staying.
After the first meeting, Orban said he would act to ensure
Ilaria Salis, a 39-year-old Italian elementary school teacher
and anti-Fascist activist on trial in Hungary for allegedly
attacking two Hungarian neo-Nazis almost a year ago, would get
"fair treatment".
Footage of Salis with her hands and feet chained during a court
hearing in Budapest have caused a public outcry in Italy.
"The only thing I can legitimately to do in the case of Ilaria
Salis is to exert influence so that she gets fair treatment,"
said Orban, adding that the Hungarian judiciary is independent
from the executive.
The Hungarian government has said the measures are "appropriate"
to the seriousness of the crime allegedly committed by Salis.
Meloni is also reportedly acting as an intermediary in efforts
to get Orban to drop a veto in the EU granting 50 billion euros
in aid to Ukraine.
Orban, Meloni, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, EU
Council President Charles Michel, French President Emmanuel
Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz subsequently had a
meeting on this issue before the summit, sources said.
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