A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers are urging Hungary to immediately ratify Sweden’s application to join NATO, saying patience with the Central European country is “wearing thin” as it continues to delay its approval for the Nordic nation,
AP reports.
Hungary is the only country in the 31-nation military alliance that hasn’t yet backed Sweden’s membership bid, and frustration has mounted within NATO as Budapest has repeatedly pushed back a vote on ratification for more than a year.
In a joint statement released Thursday, U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, and Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, called on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to “advance Sweden’s accession protocols to NATO without further delay,” and said continuing to hold up the process would harm Budapest’s relations with its allies.
“Despite its numerous prior public commitments, Hungary is the last remaining NATO member to have not ratified Sweden’s bid and both time and patience are wearing thin. Hungary’s inaction risks irrevocably damaging its relationship with the United States and with NATO,” the senators wrote.
Orbán, a staunch nationalist that has led Hungary since 2010, has long promised that his country wouldn’t be the last NATO member to approve Sweden’s application. But as Turkey’s parliament voted to back Stockholm’s bid in January, attention has shifted to Budapest as NATO members seek to expand the alliance amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
A vote on the protocols for Sweden’s NATO accession hasn’t yet appeared on the Hungarian parliament’s agenda, and the matter is unlikely to go before lawmakers until at least late February when the parliament reconvenes.