Mr Orbán flew to Rome on Tuesday for a meeting with far-right politicians from across the EU. The Hungarian leader met with Giorgia Meloni, the president of the Brothers of Italy party, and with Santiago Abascal, the head of Spain’s extreme right-wing Vox Party, who called their catch-up “fruitful.” Ms Meloni praised Hungary’s tax and family policies after a meeting with Orbán.

Fidesz’ ties to the EPP were not discussed but Meloni said she would be delighted if the Hungarian ruling party were to join the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) faction.

Speaking at a gathering of right-wing and far-right politicians on Tuesday, he told the cheering crowd that conservatism is suffering across Europe as the European People’s Party, EPP, is drifting to the left and losing its identity.

The European People’s Party is a transnational EU party lead by Donald Tusk.

At the event in Rome Mr Orbán asked: “What the hell are we doing?”

Orbán flew to the Italian capital to take part in a conference with right-wing nationalists, including former interior minister Mattheo Salvini, the leader of right-wing nationalist party Fratelli d’Italia Giorgia Meloni and Marion Marechan, the granddaughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen.

The EPP had no objection to Orbán’s visit to Rome, said Mr Tusk, adding it was symbolic that he is at a “nationalist meeting with far-right political parties during the EPP Political Assembly.”

In Rome, Orbán was greeted by Italian PM Guiseppe Conte, according to Mr Orban’s Facebook site.

At the meeting Mr Orbán took the opportunity to take aim at the European People’s Party (EPP), who have recently agreed to withdraw the voting rights of the party he leads.

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Fidesz, the ruling party of Hungary’s right-wing Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, have been suspended by the European Parliament’s biggest grouping in a row over defiance of EU policies.

Before the vote, Fidesz officials had threatened to pull out of the EPP if it was suspended.

However, Mr Orbán reacted defiantly, saying “we cannot be excluded”.

Although the suspension stops short of complete expulsion, the decision comes as a blow for the Hungarian leader on the eve of an EU summit on the 20 February 2020.

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Mr Orbán’s Fidesz party had their voting rights removed finally because they released an anti-immigration poster campaign that featured unflattering photos of European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and billionaire philanthropist George Soros.

Mr Soros is a regular target of Fidesz, which accuses him of encouraging illegal migration to Europe.

Mr Soros funds civil society groups that help migrants or defend human rights.

Critics see the attacks on Mr Soros, a Jewish survivor of the Nazi Holocaust in Hungary, as anti-Semitic.

For many right-wing, anti-immigration parties, Mr Orbán is a hero for regularly castigating Brussels for its approach to migration, especially Muslim migration.

Mr Orbán said after the vote: “We can be only be part of a parliamentary group that is clearly opposed to immigration and stands completely obligated to the defence of Christianity.”

However, they faced strong opposition from the Slovenian, French, and Spanish centre-right as well as the Bavarian CSU.

Slovenia’s former Prime Minister Janez Janša said at the EPP Congress in Zagreb last November: “Punishing the most successful party in the group would not make any sense.”

EPP Chief Mr Tusk said he would present specific proposals about the case in the next assembly in April and hinted that an extraordinary congress may be held early next year to make final decisions.

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