The government will not even talk to the US delegation on Swedish membership of NATO

A delegation of US Republican and Democratic senators arrived in Hungary on Sunday to investigate why the issue of Swedish membership of NATO has stalled in the Hungarian parliament.

The delegation arrived on Sunday from the Munich Security Conference and held a press conference at the US Embassy in Budapest. The delegation included the two co-chairs of the Senate's NATO Observer Group, Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Senator Thom Tillis, and Senator Chris Murphy, also of the Democratic Party, as a member of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator Shaheen first thanked Ambassador David Pressmann for his work in Budapest, and recalled that this was not her first visit to Hungary. In 2017, she had already been here as part of a similar delegation and partly as a tourist. She said she was happy to return at this important time for NATO and US-Hungarian relations.

Shaheen was pleased when the Hungarian Prime Minister promised earlier that ratification of Sweden's accession would occur and regrets that this has still not happened. However, she is optimistic and hopeful that the Hungarian Parliament will vote in favour of Swedish accession on 26 February.

According to Shaheen, the Swedes would bring special expertise to NATO because they have a world-class navy. "At a time of war between Russia and Ukraine, it is of paramount importance that we present a united NATO image, as well as that the Swedes join as soon as possible," she said.

Members of the committee stressed that they came in friendship, intending to strengthen the partnership.

That is why they were disappointed that the Hungarian government and the ruling party Fidesz did not meet them at all, despite their request for a meeting.

Jeanne Shaheen recalled that when she was here in 2017, they had such meetings, and she is disappointed that this time they were not able to talk to the government about NATO, or even free elections, or perhaps human rights. Murphy said that they had been in a similar set-up in Turkey before, where they also had disputes with the government, but there they sat down to talk to them. He said it would be very important to strengthen bilateral relations.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Péter Szijjártó said on Friday that the US senators visiting Hungary should not try to exert pressure, as Hungary is a sovereign country, and Parliament does not make decisions based on the visits of various congressional delegations. "We are glad they are coming here because they can see for themselves that everything they read about Hungary in the liberal American media is a blatant lie. And so they can see for themselves that we in Hungary are in no way an obstacle to Hungarian-American cooperation and its improvement," Szijjártó said.

Republican Senator Thom Tillis said: the US-Hungarian relationship is alive and well. "Hungary is a member of the NATO family, and every family has disputes. I have 6 brothers and sisters. One of them is so different from me politically that they might not even vote for me. It is natural to have disagreements in a family, but they should not be given too much emphasis. The family itself is more important," he said.

He said there are always concerns or disputes about a new member joining the alliance, but these should be overcome. Tillis added that he was very happy that Viktor Orbán said that the Swedish accession would be ratified on 26 February. This is even more necessary in the light of the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Jeanne Shaheen said that when she returns to Washington, they will put forward proposals to ensure that Sweden joins as soon as possible. They will also express their concern about US-Hungarian relations.

The committee did not answer questions from the press about whether they have a plan B in case the Hungarian government does not approve Swedish accession within a short deadline. They said they were instead thinking about celebrating the ratification of the accession soon.

Sweden decided to abandon its decades-long policy of neutrality and join the transatlantic alliance after the outbreak of the Russian-Ukrainian war. A majority of members approved this in autumn 2022, and after some delay, previously reluctant Turkey and Hungary agreed to Finland's membership.

But it's been more than a year and a half since the Hungarian Parliament has failed to decide on Sweden's accession to NATO, and Hungary is now the last Member State not to ratify the Scandinavian country's accession. The government submitted the proposal to parliament in July 2022, but Speaker László Kövér did not put the final vote on the agenda. The official reason given for the postponement was that there was a dispute within the Fidesz parliamentary group, and the group's position is now to wait for the Swedish prime minister's visit to Budapest. The next opportunity to resolve the Swedish issue will be at the beginning of the spring session on 26 February.