Hungary’s opposition parties, which favor Sweden’s membership in NATO, have made several attempts over the past year to schedule a vote on the matter. But lawmakers from the Fidesz party, which holds a two-thirds majority in parliament, have refused to lend their support.
Agnes Vadai, a lawmaker with Hungary’s opposition Democratic Coalition party and a former secretary of state in the Ministry of Defense, said that the opposition would once again seek to force a vote on Sweden’s membership before parliament’s next scheduled session in late February.
But there’s “very little chance” that Orbán’s party will support the initiative, she said, adding that Hungary’s intransigence on the issue is the prime minister’s attempt to prove his weight on the international stage
TLDR; surprise surprise, analysts predict that Orban wants something out of it.
Let me guess, some EU funds?
I’m guessing Orban is on his way to Moscow to seek further instructions.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
After more than a year of delays, and consistent urging from its Western partners to move forward with Sweden’s application, the Central European country and its conservative populist prime minister, Viktor Orbán, are once again in the spotlight.
While Turkey made a series of concrete demands from Sweden as preconditions for supporting its bid to join the alliance, Hungary’s government — long under fire in the European Union for alleged breaches of democracy and rule-of-law standards — has expressed no such requirements, hinting only that it expects a greater degree of respect from Stockholm.
But there’s “very little chance” that Orbán’s party will support the initiative, she said, adding that Hungary’s intransigence on the issue is the prime minister’s attempt to prove his weight on the international stage.
As Turkey’s parliament prepared to vote on the ratification on Monday, Orbán announced that he’d sent a letter to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, inviting him to Budapest to negotiate on NATO membership.
A vote on the protocols for Sweden’s NATO accession hasn’t yet appeared on the Hungarian parliament’s agenda, and barring a surprise emergency session, the matter is unlikely to go before lawmakers until at least late February.
Hungary’s delays, as well as Orbán’s friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, have frustrated other allies who want to expand the alliance and provide security guarantees to Sweden amid the war in Ukraine.
The original article contains 749 words, the summary contains 231 words. Saved 69%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
