"This is the first of a long series of meetings to change destinies, not only of Italy and of Hungary, but of the whole European continent." — Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.

"We need a new European Commission that is committed to the defense of Europe's borders. We need a Commission after the European elections that does not punish those countries -- like Hungary -- that protect their borders." — Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini have pledged to create an "anti-immigration axis" aimed at countering the pro-migration policies of the European Union.

Meeting in Milan on August 28, Orbán and Salvini, vowed to work together with Austria and the Visegrad Group — the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia — to oppose a pro-migration group of EU countries led by French President Emmanuel Macron.