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The deteriorating image of the Hungarian leader will also test the "couple" if Meloni aspires to join the club of senior Western leaders.
Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni changed her approach to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to emerge as a powerful mediator at this week's EU summit.
But their friendship is more fragile than it seemed, after Orban could be a burden on her ambitions, according to analysts. Meloni's office said she was a "key player" in Orban's decision to lift his veto on Ukraine funding.
She first met with Orban in a Brussels hotel on Wednesday night to discuss the case of ill-treatment of an Italian prisoner in Hungary, Ilaria Salis, an Italian anti-fascist activist who is on trial for assault in Hungary.
She then sat between the French president and the German chancellor with Orban on Thursday morning as the Hungarian leader made way for Ukraine. And she rewarded Orbán by being "outspoken against any Article 7 path against Hungary" at Thursday's summit, an EU diplomat said.
Article 7 of the EU treaty allows member states to suspend Orban's voting rights in the EU Council due to his gross abuse of the rule of law in Hungary.
Meloni then went on to talk about her achievement at the post-summit press conference.
" This is how it works in many sovereign states, even in the West ," she said, referring to how Hungarian authorities had chained Sali's hands and feet in court last week, provoking outrage from the Italian public.
Orban told Italian newspapers La Repubblica and La Stampa that he was moving ahead with plans to join Mellon's political group in the European Parliament (EP), the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).
" The idea is to unite, but we will do this after the EP elections in June. Anyway, my answer is yes, we are ready and we will join the conservatives ," he said in Brussels on Thursday.
" Meloni and Orban have shared personal values that gave their relationship some significance ," said Francesco Galietti, who works at the Rome-based political consultancy Policy Sonar.
Meloni has successfully transformed her image from a former fascist to a mainstream Western leader since her election two years ago.
Her friendship with Orbán could give Meloni even more weight in Western capitals if Donald Trump were to regain power in the US elections in November.
"If Trump wins, she will be seen as someone close to one of Trump's favorites in Europe, and Orban is certainly one of them ," said Galietti.
The power couple
But if it all looked like Meloni and Orbán were becoming the EU's new power couple, her influence on him could appear greater than it actually was.
"There are many fathers in this success. And mother ," said a second EU diplomat, referring to collective pressure on Orban over Ukraine by several other leaders at the EU summit.
"She has no actual influence on Orbán. Even the EU agreements on immigrants, which are being demanded by Meloni, were overturned by Orbán in the past" , said Galietti.
The incident of the chained Italian prisoners also showed how fragile their relationship was, said Agnes Vadai, a Hungarian opposition lawmaker.
"Hungarian pro-government media immediately attacked Meloni as part of the Soros gang," Vadai said, referring to George Soros, a Jewish billionaire with whom Orban has had many clashes.
Meloni's anti-Russian approach to China and her calls for the separation of migrants in the EU will test her friendship with Orban, Galietti noted.
The deteriorating image of the Hungarian leader will also test the "couple" if Meloni aspires to join the club of senior Western leaders.
"She is defending her goals, but in the long run Orbán is an embarrassment to Meloni. She knows she can't be in the group, but she wants to be important to the group," said Galietti. /Adapted "Pamphlet" from " Euobserver "
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