Orban’s party again blocks ratification of Sweden’s NATO accession

On 31 July, the Hungarian ruling Fidesz party failed to attend an extraordinary meeting initiated by the opposition to consider the ratification of Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Alliance.

This is stated in the publication of the Hungarian independent newspaper Telex.

The Hungarian opposition party Movement Momentum previously initiated the extraordinary meeting after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to submit Sweden’s NATO membership application for ratification at the Vilnius summit.

Later, other opposition forces joined the Momentum Movement initiative, adding their proposals to the agenda of the meeting, including the issue of access to the Erasmus programme for Hungarian students and teachers.

However, as previously reported, Fidesz MPs did not attend the meeting, and as a result, a quorum was not formed for any decision. The present MPs posted photos of the almost empty parliamentary hall on social media.

“Where are the pro-government MPs on their working day? What do they get paid for if they don’t go to work?” asked Ferenc Gelenser, head of the Momentum Movement.

And Laszlo Varju of the Democratic Coalition added that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban deliberately does not give the green light for ratification of Sweden’s accession to the Alliance because he depends on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

At the NATO Summit in Vilnius, Turkey agreed to unblock the process of ratifying Sweden’s accession to the Alliance in exchange for assistance in rapprochement with the European Union.

In addition to Turkey, Hungary has not yet ratified Sweden’s accession. Sweden’s prime minister believes that now that Turkey’s veto has been lifted, Hungary will not be an obstacle.

The Hungarian government has consistently taken a position favouring Russia on the international stage, especially in the EU and NATO, including blocking decisions on the alliance enlargement, opposing arms support for Ukraine and criticising sanctions against Moscow.