Budapest, Hungary — Two US senators will submit a bipartisan resolution to Congress condemning Hungary’s democratic backsliding and urging the nationalist government to lift the blockade on Sweden’s entry into the NATO military alliance.
The resolution, authored by U.S. Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a Democrat from New Hampshire, and Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, comes as the Hungarian government faces increasing pressure to support Sweden’s bid to join NATO to ratify, something it has been putting off for more than 18 months. .
Unanimity is required among all NATO member states to admit a new ally, and Hungary is the only one of the 31 member states that has not supported Sweden’s bid.
In the resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, the senators note “the important role that Hungary can play in European and transatlantic security” but point out that the country has failed to keep previous promises to not to be the last NATO ally to sign the agreement. about Swedish membership.
Hungary, the resolution said, “has not joined all other NATO member states in approving Sweden’s accession to NATO, and has failed to fulfill its commitment not to be the last to such an accession approves, endangering transatlantic security at a key moment for peace.” and stability in Europe.â€
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a staunch nationalist who has led Hungary since 2010, has said he is in favor of Sweden joining NATO, but lawmakers in his party remain unconvinced due to “blatant lies” by Swedish politicians about the situation in Hungary. democracy.
After Turkey’s parliament voted to back Stockholm’s bid in January, attention has shifted to Budapest, the last holdout, as NATO members seek to expand the alliance amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The senators’ resolution criticizes Orbán’s increasingly cordial relations with Russia and China, noting that while Hungary has opened its doors to Ukrainian refugees fleeing Moscow’s invasion, the country has also resisted sanctions from the European Union against the Russian Federation and has weakened it. €
Orbán, widely considered the Kremlin’s closest EU ally, has long been criticized for flouting the bloc’s standards on democracy and the rule of law. The EU has withheld billions in funding from Budapest over alleged rule violations.
A bipartisan delegation of US lawmakers, including Shaheen and Tillis, will visit Budapest on Sunday for a “mission focused on strategic issues facing NATO and Hungary,” reflecting growing impatience among Hungary’s allies after the delays in the ratification underlined. Sweden’s NATO bid.
The senators’ resolution alleges that Orbán has used “migration, the COVID-19 crisis and the war against Ukraine” to justify successive states of emergency that have allowed the Hungarian government to “rule by decree, bypassing parliament.” . €
It also criticizes Orbán for meddling in Hungary’s media landscape, restricting civil liberties and trying to crack down on dissenting voices.
In a state of the nation speech in Budapest on Saturday, Orbán indicated that the Hungarian legislature could soon move forward with approving Stockholm’s NATO membership.
“It is good news that our dispute with Sweden is almost over,” he said. “We are on track to ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO at the start of the spring session of Parliament.”