Hungary will Try to Form an Alliance with Austria and Italy Against Immigrants

Hungary aims to coordinate more closely on refugee policy with Austria and Italy after elections there boosted anti-migrant parties, broadening an alliance of EU states focused on internal security.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday that the approach to migration of the Vienna government and the center-right in Italy was very similar to the bloc's central European member states.

"So it is obvious that we will work together in the future," he told Reuters in an interview.

 "This is not against the western part of Europe, this is against migration, and this is in favor of our interests because we put security first."

A bitter row over migration policy sparked by the biggest influx of refugees into the European Union since World War Two has undermined trust within the bloc and weakened its unity, with its eastern states refusing to sign up to a quota system favored by several richer members to the west and north.

In refusing to accept Muslim refugees, Hungary and its neighbors in the Visegrad group - the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia - have cited security concerns and the desire to preserve the traditional Christian make-up of their societies.

In Austria, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz formed a coalition with the Freedom Party following an election last year dominated by the issue of migration, making the country the only one in western Europe with a far-right grouping in government.

In Italy this month, the governing center-left Democratic Party lost out to anti-establishment and right-wing parties that campaigned hard against immigration in an election that delivered a hung parliament.

Szijjarto said the Visegrad countries had no plans to enlarge that alliance, but this should not prevent closer ties with...