The government of Hungary turns down a request to meet with US senators to support Sweden’s NATO candidacy

On Sunday, a group of US senators from both parties paid a formal visit to Budapest and urged the nationalist administration to grant Sweden’s bid to join NATO right away.

Out of the 31 current members of NATO, Hungary is the only one that has not accepted Sweden’s request. Since a new nation must have unanimous consent to join the military alliance, the Hungarian government has been under increasing pressure to take action after postponing the decision for more than 18 months.

The visiting senators said they would send a joint resolution to Congress denouncing what they saw as Hungary’s purported democratic backsliding and pleading with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s administration to remove its impediment to Sweden’s transatlantic integration.

During a press conference at the US Embassy in Budapest, Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, said, “With accession, Hungary and your prime minister will be doing a great service to freedom-loving nations worldwide.”

The resolution was written by Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen from New Hampshire and Republican Senator Tillis, as originally reported by The Associated Press early on Sunday. The Democratic senator from Connecticut, Chris Murphy, accompanied them to Budapest.

The fact that no Hungarian government officials accepted offers to meet with the team, according to Shaheen, was “disappointing,” but she expressed optimism that Sweden’s accession will be put up for approval when Hungarian MPs met again on February 26.

Murphy called Orbán’s government’s unwillingness to convene “strange and concerning,” but he also noted that it was the long-serving leader’s responsibility to advocate for a vote.

He said, “We are smart enough about politics here to know that the parliament can proceed if Prime Minister Orbán wants this to happen.”

Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democrat from Maryland and the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee termed Orbán “the least reliable member of NATO” and suggested that penalties be applied to Hungary for its actions earlier this month.

The senators acknowledge “the important role Hungary can have in European and trans-Atlantic security” in the resolution, which was acquired by the AP. However, they also draw attention to Hungary’s broken pledge to not be the last NATO partner to approve Sweden’s membership.

In violation of a pledge not to be the last to accept such an admission, Hungary “has not joined all other NATO member states in approving the accession of Sweden to NATO, jeopardizing trans-Atlantic security at a critical moment for peace and stability in Europe,” the resolution declares.

Strongly nationalist Orbán, who has been in charge of Hungary since 2010, has said that he supports Sweden joining NATO, but party legislators are not persuaded due to “blatant lies” from Swedish politicians about Hungary’s democratic situation.

However, at a state of the country address on Saturday in Budapest, Orbán hinted that Hungary’s lawmakers would soon yield.

He said, “It’s good news that our dispute with Sweden is almost over.” “At the start of the spring session of Parliament, we want to approve Sweden’s entry into NATO.”

The senators’ resolution condemns Orbán’s warming ties to China and Russia, while also pointing out that Hungary has “resisted and diluted European Union sanctions with respect to the Russian Federation” while having welcomed Ukrainian refugees fleeing Moscow’s invasion.

Orbán has long faced criticism for disobeying the EU’s norms on democracy and the rule of law. He is often regarded as the closest supporter of the Kremlin in the bloc. Due to purported regulatory violations, the EU has denied Budapest billions in financing.

The government of Hungary has also taken an increasingly hostile posture against President Joe Biden’s administration, charging that the US is trying to sway Hungarian public opinion.

Although he welcomed the senators’ visit, Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, said on Friday that it was “not worth trying to exert pressure on us, because we are a sovereign country.”

Szijjártó said, “We are happy they are visiting because they can see for themselves that everything they have been told about Hungary in the liberal American media is blatantly false.”