Hungary denounces US senators who are pushing for Sweden to join NATO
Hungary, the last remnant blocking Sweden's accession to NATO, turned its nose up at the United States this weekend and refused to meet with a bipartisan delegation of senators who had come to pressure Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's government to to quickly approve the accession of the Nordic nation. in the military alliance.
The insult, which Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, described on Sunday as “strange and worrying,” represented the latest attempt by Mr Orban, a staunch advocate of national sovereignty, to show that he will not submit to pressure from outside during NATO's long term. -stagnant expansion.
Despite having just 10 million inhabitants and accounting for just 1 percent of the European Union's economic output, Hungary under Mr Orban has made defying more powerful countries his guiding philosophy. “Hungary above all,” Orbán said at the end of the day on Saturday a State of the Nation address in which he said that European policies to support Ukraine had “failed spectacularly.”
Lawmakers from Orbán's ruling Fidesz party and government ministers all declined to meet with the visiting US senators, all of whom are staunch supporters of Ukraine.
“I'm disappointed to say that no one from the administration wanted to meet with us while we were here,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat and co-chair of the Senate NATO Observer Group, said at a news conference on Sunday.
Speaking a day earlier in Budapest, Hungary's capital, Mr Orbán reiterated his earlier pledge – which he has so far reneged on – to admit Sweden to the alliance as soon as possible. “We are on track to ratify Sweden's accession to NATO at the start of the spring session of Parliament,” he said.
Mr Orban, whose party has a large majority in parliament and controls when it meets and how it votes, did not give a date, but lawmakers are expected to meet again at the end of the month after a winter break. Fidesz lawmakers boycotted a session of parliament called by the opposition earlier this month to ratify Sweden's NATO membership.
After more than 18 months of foot-dragging, Hungary has come under intense pressure from the United States and other members of the 31-nation alliance to accept Sweden, whose military is much larger and more advanced than Hungary's.
In a sign of mounting frustration, the visiting senators, including North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis, said they would introduce a Senate resolution calling on Hungary to stop waiting and express concern about the democratic backsliding under Mr. Orban, who has led an increasingly authoritarian system.
Hungary then became the last obstacle to Sweden's admission The Turkish parliament has voted last month to approve his membership.
The visiting Americans expressed optimism that Orbán would soon succumb to Sweden's admission, just as he did last month, after months of opposition, in approval of an aid package from the European Union to Ukraine worth $54 billion. “We are hopeful and optimistic that this will happen on the 26th when Parliament convenes,” Ms Shaheen said
Mr. Tillis urged Hungary, which opposes sending weapons to Ukraine and has cordial relations with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, to understand that “Putin's actions are the reason we are expanding NATO .” Every member of the alliance, he said, “must understand that the answer to Vladimir Putin's hostility must be a stronger NATO, and there is no better way to do that than by admitting Sweden.”
Hungary's inaction has caused widespread dismay, especially in Sweden, which has supplied Mr Orban's country with Swedish-made fighter jets that form the backbone of its air force. Pro-government news media in Hungary have suggested that Mr Orban was holding out to get a better deal on Swedish-made Gripen fighters. But diplomats see this as a story largely concocted to explain otherwise inexplicable delays that have seriously damaged Hungary's reputation as a reliable ally and given the country no clear benefits in return.
This month, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, called Mr. Orban “the least trustworthy member of NATO” and raised the possibility of imposing sanctions on Hungary for blocking expansion.
Hungary approved Finland's accession to NATO last March, just a few months after other countries did so, but has been standing still with Sweden since the summer of 2022. standards and teaching materials used in Swedish schools that were considered disrespectful to Hungary by Fidesz officials. The latest reason is that the Swedish Prime Minister has not yet visited Budapest to negotiate with Mr Orban.
The United States Ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman, said the senators' visit “underlines the urgency of the moment” and that he was hopeful Hungary would follow all other NATO members in accepting Sweden.
But in an interview, Mr. Pressman expressed regret that the Hungarian government, “as evidenced by the bipartisan congressional delegation here today, has chosen to engage with American officials in a way that is unique among our allies.”