Hungary Officials Decline to Meet with Bipartisan Group of Senators

Over the weekend, a bipartisan group of Senators headed to Hungary.

The goal of the trip was to get Hungary to support Sweden joining NATO.

As of this point, Hungary is the only NATO country not to have given the green light to Sweden joining NATO.

Rejected

There are currently 31 members of NATO, and it would appear that Hungary wants to keep it that way.

Hungary is the lone holdout to add Sweden to NATO, so the Senators figured an in-person visit may help push Hungary over the line.

Senator Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) was among those who traveled to Hungary, and he stated, “With accession, Hungary and your prime minister will be doing a great service to freedom-loving nations worldwide.”

This came as the group announced it would be introducing a resolution to condemn Hungary for delaying the admittance of Sweden, as well as urging Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to allow Sweden’s membership to move forward.

Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) was also in attendance, pointing the finger directly at Orbán.

He stated, “We are wise enough about politics here to know that if Prime Minister Orbán wants this to happen, then the parliament can move forward.”

He and other members of the delegation expressed their disappointment in being snubbed by Hungary’s government officials.

For his part, Orbán has noted that he supports Sweden joining NATO, but he is concerned about the “lies” that Sweden has told in the process.

His most recent statement does sound as though Hungary will eventually cave, stating, “It’s good news that our dispute with Sweden is nearing a conclusion.

“We are moving toward ratifying Sweden’s accession to NATO at the beginning of the spring session of Parliament.”

Péter Szijjártó, Hungary’s foreign minister, welcomed the visit but did not appreciate that the visit was to apply pressure, stating that Hungary is a “sovereign country” and will not buckle to pressure.

He added, “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.”