The Parliament of Hungary could not vote for Sweden’s membership in NATO

The Hungarian Parliament was unable to hold a vote on Sweden’s accession to NATO scheduled for Monday due to the lack of a quorum. Representatives of the Hungarian Civil Union (FIDES), the party headed by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, did not attend the meeting.

The press service of FIDES reported that the party is ready to discuss Sweden’s application if its Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson first meets with Viktor Orban. “If this is an important issue for the Swedes, then, obviously, the Prime Minister of Sweden will come to Budapest,” FIDES responded to the Reuters request.

Earlier, Kristersson rejected Orban’s invitation, offering instead to discuss all bilateral issues at a meeting in Brussels.

An extraordinary meeting specifically to discuss Sweden’s application to join NATO was convened at the initiative of the opposition parties, but FIDES representatives boycotted it. Now this issue can be raised at one of the regular parliamentary sessions: the next session will begin at the end of February.

Representatives of the opposition parties condemned the behavior of the Hungarian Civil Union. Deputy from the Democratic Coalition Agnes Vadai said that Orban “wants to do something nice [президенту России Владимиру] Putin, undermining the unity of NATO”.

• Sweden, a long-time neutral country, applied to join NATO together with Finland in the spring of 2022, soon after Russia’s attack on Ukraine. For a country to join NATO, the consent of all the states of the union is necessary – before Finland’s admission, there were 30 of them. The process of ratifying Sweden’s application was delayed because of the position of Hungary and Turkey. Turkey approved the application in January of this year. Thus, Hungary remains the only NATO country that prevents Sweden from joining the alliance.
• The government of Viktor Orbán and he himself continue to maintain ties with Moscow even after the start of the war in Ukraine, oppose the imposition of sanctions on Russia and the European Union’s support for Ukraine.