Parliament of Hungary again failed to ratify Sweden’s application to NATO
On Monday, the Hungarian ruling party "Fidesz" did not appear at an extraordinary meeting initiated by the opposition, where the ratification of Sweden’s entry into the North Atlantic Alliance was supposed to be considered.
This is reported by Censor.NET with reference to Ukrinform.
Monday's legislative session was postponed after members of the ruling party, which has a majority in parliament, failed to show up.
The extraordinary meeting was previously initiated by the Hungarian opposition party "Momentum Movement" after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised to submit Sweden's application for NATO membership for ratification at the Vilnius summit.
Later, other opposition forces joined the "Momentum Movement" initiative, supplementing the agenda of the meeting with their proposals - in particular, the issue of access of Hungarian students and teachers to the Erasmus program.
"Where are the pro-government MPs during their working day? What do they get paid for if they don't go to work?" Ferenc Gelenser, head of the Momentum Movement, asked rhetorically.
And Laszlo Vardzu from the "Democratic Coalition" added that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán deliberately does not give the "green light" for the ratification of Sweden's entry into the Alliance, because he is dependent on Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As reported, Hungary together with Turkey blocked the Euro-Atlantic integration of Sweden, which submitted an application to join NATO in May 2022.
Ankara accused Sweden of insufficient fight against terrorism. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on Stockholm to extradite people he considers terrorists, including Kurds and others who supported a 2016 coup attempt.
In June, after a meeting with Erdogan in Istanbul, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Sweden had fulfilled its obligations to join the Alliance.
On July 10, the Turkish president agreed to hand over the protocol on Sweden's accession to NATO to the Turkish parliament.
Earlier, the head of the Hungarian Foreign Ministry, Peter Szijjártó, assured that Budapest will not delay the ratification of Sweden's membership in NATO if Ankara changes its position on this issue.
