Fidesz stayed away from extraordinary parliamentary session on Swedish NATO membership, but US Ambassador David Pressman was there

Hungarian opposition parties have together initiated an extraordinary parliamentary session for Monday to ensure that the Parliament votes in favour of Sweden's accession to NATO as soon as possible. As previously announced, the Fidesz-KDNP MPs did not attend the meeting which means that even the agenda could not be adopted, so following the statements, the chair of the meeting, Sándor Lezsák, suspended the session.

In spite of this, the presence of US Ambassador David Pressman, as well as the ambassadors of the Netherlands, Norway, Denmark, Poland and Slovakia observing from the gallery sent a strong message.

Reacting to the news that the House Speaker had called the extraordinary sitting of parliament in response to the opposition parties’ initiative, the US Embassy in Budapest issued a statement on Friday, saying that the US "welcomes the announcement of an extraordinary parliamentary session on this pivotal matter of our shared security". PM Orbán has promised Hungary will act "at the first possible opportunity". Monday's session provides an opportunity to do that.”

Meanwhile, Hungary’s governing parties (Fidesz and the Christian Democrat KDNP) are holding an off-site government meeting in Sopronbánfalva for the first three days of the week. Less than two hours before the parliamentary session was due to begin, Fidesz's parliamentary group leader Máté Kocsis wrote on his Facebook page that the ratification of Sweden's NATO accession will likely take place at the beginning of the regular parliamentary session, but this would first require a meeting between the two prime ministers in Budapest.

“If NATO accession is important to the Swedes, they will come here, just like they went to Turkey.”

Even though two-thirds of the MPs were absent on Monday, opposition politicians still took the floor. After the first person finished speaking, referring to the empty rows of the governing parties' benches, the chair of the meeting, Sándor Lezsák, said:

"Apparently no one wishes to respond to your remarks on behalf of the government".

This means that there was not a single government MP in the House, not even a single state secretary to respond to the speeches of opposition MPs.

Listening to Viktor Orbán, one will be bitterly disappointed every time, said Bence Tordai, group leader of the Green Party-Párbeszéd.

“How can you know that Viktor Orbán is lying? Because his lips are moving.”

As the Párbeszéd politician recalled, the Prime Minister promised that the Parliament would vote for Sweden's accession to NATO at the first opportunity. In spite of this, the Fidesz MPs failed to turn up when given the opportunity. Nor, according to Tordai, was the Prime Minister telling the truth when he promised that Hungary would not be the last country to ratify Sweden's accession to NATO.

The Hungarian government is betraying Hungary's interests by blocking the Swedish accession and is only serving the interests of Vladimir Putin, he continued. According to him, this is something that should be investigated by the newly established Sovereignty Protection Authority, if it were a truly independent institution.

Koloman Brenner, Jobbik-Conservative MP said that the sad game that the government has been playing over the past year and a half with Sweden's accession to NATO is contrary to Hungary's national interest. Why is it good for the Hungarian people that Viktor Orbán and Fidesz have become Putin's puppets and are serving Russian national interests? – the Jobbik MP asked, addressing the empty governing party benches.

"It is a shame and a disgrace that Fidesz is not here today to vote in favour of Sweden's accession to NATO".

The National Assembly is the nation's sanctuary, "yet here we are, without a government", Tamás Harangozó of MSZP began, adding that "the security of our own country and the security of our allies is not something to be trifled with", and that Sweden's accession to NATO would increase security.

"How pro-peace is a government that has been playing around for a year and a half by blocking NATO enlargement?"

– Harangozó asked, saying that if they were really pro-peace, they would be here in parliament now and "we could put an end to this charade within ten minutes".

"It was Viktor Orbán's personal vanity and his commitment to Putin who's killing children next door that led to us being the last ones to vote on this," said DK's Ágnes Vadai, who said no one should believe that anyone but Orbán has a say on this matter from the government benches. “Orbán is toying with the security of the country, which will come at a high price, but he doesn't care. This is obvious, because he didn't bother to come.”

“Someone's got to be last”

For months, the Hungarian government and Fidesz politicians had been promising that Hungary would not be the last member state to ratify Sweden's accession to NATO, but that is what ended up happening, after the Turkish parliament voted in favour of admitting the Nordic country to the alliance two weeks ago.

The Hungarian government submitted the bill to Parliament in July 2022, but House Speaker László Kövér has not put it on the agenda for more than a year and a half, arguing that the issue was a matter of debate within the Fidesz parliamentary group.

At the last minute before the vote in the Turkish parliament, the Hungarian Prime Minister invited the Swedish Prime Minister to a meeting, but the Swedes responded that they saw no reason for a meeting. In the brief reply, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said that they hoped Hungary would ratify NATO membership as soon as possible. The Hungarian Prime Minister promised that Hungary would settle this issue at the earliest opportunity.

Although Orbán and his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson met in Brussels at last week's EU summit, Sweden's accession to NATO was not among the subjects they discussed. According to press reports, the Swedish Prime Minister told Orbán that he would be happy to meet him in Budapest, but only after Hungary had ratified their accession. On the other hand, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó said that the only "fair and correct" act from Kristersson would be to visit Hungary before the parliamentary vote.

The Fidesz parliamentary group had already indicated last week in response to a question from atv.hu that they would not participate in the extraordinary session of parliament, and would wait for the meeting between the two Prime Ministers before taking the final vote.

Parliament's spring session is not scheduled to start until 26 February. László Kövér recently said that he did not feel there was any urgency for Hungary, nor did he believe there was any sort of emergency, and that "someone's got to be last".