by Krisztina Than and Boldizsar Gyori
BUDAPEST (Reuters) – The U.S. ambassador to Hungary, along with his counterparts from other NATO countries such as Poland, Denmark and Slovakia, attended a meeting of the Hungarian parliament on Monday, a demonstration intended to increase pressure for Budapest to approve Sweden’s entry into the transatlantic alliance.
The extraordinary meeting of Parliament was called by the opposition to vote on ratification but MPs from the ruling Fidesz party boycotted the session. As a result, the quorum for voting was not reached and the approval of Sweden’s NATO candidacy was further delayed.
Fidesz MPs want Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to visit Budapest before ratifying the country’s candidacy.
Hungary is the only NATO country not to have ratified Stockholm’s application for membership, a process which requires the support of all members.
Sweden’s membership in NATO is an issue that directly affects the national security of the United States as well as the security of the alliance as a whole, declared the American ambassador, David Pressman, outside Parliament .
“The Prime Minister pledged to convene Parliament, to urge it to act as soon as possible, and that is what he did today,” David Pressman said. “We look forward to following this matter closely and seeing Hungary act quickly.”
Sweden applied to join NATO in May 2022, after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who continues to maintain ties with the Kremlin, says his government supports Sweden’s membership in the alliance. But the ratification bill has been blocked in Parliament since mid-2022.
Sweden’s NATO candidacy could be ratified when Hungary’s parliament meets for a normal session, the Fidesz parliamentary group said earlier on Monday. Parliament is due to reconvene at the end of February, after a winter break.
(Report by Krisztina Than with the contribution of Anna Ringstrom; Blandine Hénault for the French version)
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