A bipartisan delegation of US senators visited Hungary on Sunday, urging the government to approve Sweden’s request to join NATO, The Washington Post reported.
Hungary is the only one of the 31 NATO members not to have ratified Sweden’s bid. Budapest faces mounting pressure to act after delaying the move for more than 18 months as admitting a new country into the military alliance requires unanimous approval. Senator Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, stated:
With accession, Hungary and your prime minister will be doing a great service to freedom-loving nations worldwide.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen stated that it was “disappointing” that no member of the Hungarian government had accepted an invitation to meet with the delegation, but she was “hopeful and optimistic” that Sweden’s accession would be submitted for ratification when Hungarian lawmakers reconvene on 26 February.
Earlier this month, US Senator Ben Cardin, a Maryland Democrat and chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, raised the prospect of sanctions against Hungary for its behaviour and called Prime Minister Viktor Orbán “the least reliable member of NATO.”
The resolution reads that Hungary “has not joined all other NATO member states in approving the accession of Sweden to NATO, failing to fulfil a commitment not to be the last to approve such accession and jeopardising trans-Atlantic security at a key moment for peace and stability in Europe.”
However, in Saturday’s address to the nation in Budapest, Orbán indicated that Hungary’s parliament may soon make concessions.
“It’s good news that our dispute with Sweden is nearing a conclusion. We are moving toward ratifying Sweden’s accession to NATO at the beginning of the spring session of Parliament.”
Hungary’s government has also taken an increasingly hostile stance toward President Joe Biden’s administration, accusing the US of trying to influence Hungarian public life. Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, stated on Friday that he welcomed the senators’ visit, but it was “not worth trying to exert pressure on us, because we are a sovereign country.”
We are glad they are coming here because they can see for themselves that everything they read about Hungary in the liberal American media is a blatant lie.
