There is no Hungarian-Turkish deal with regards to the ratification of Sweden's bid for NATO membership as it will be up to Hungarian parliament to decide when to vote on this, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a news briefing on Thursday.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Reuters/Marton Monus/File
There is no Hungarian-Turkish deal with regards to the ratification of Sweden's bid for NATO membership as it will be up to Hungarian parliament to decide when to vote on this, Prime Minister Viktor Orban told a news briefing on Thursday.
Orban said there was no great willingness among ruling party lawmakers in Budapest to approve Sweden's bid. Sweden's application has been held up by Turkey and Hungary's refusal to support it.
Orban said in September that Hungary was in no rush to ratify Sweden's NATO accession, flagging a further delay in a process that has been stranded in parliament since last year.
"There is no Hungarian-Turkish agreement" on Sweden's NATO bid, he said, adding that approval "will be decided only by Hungarian parliament...when lawmakers decide the time has come for it. They don't have a great willingness to make this decision."
Budapest has cited what it called undue allegations by Swedish politicians that it had eroded democratic rights as a reason for the delay in approving Sweden's bid.
Hungary's parliament, currently on a winter break, will resume its work some time around mid-February.
Reporting by Krisztina Than and Gergely Szakacs; Editing by Bernadette Baum
Kaja Kallas, who resigned as Estonia's prime minister on Monday to become the European Union's next foreign policy chief, is known for her tough stance on Russia, which may raise doubts as to whether she can represent views from across the bloc.
Syria's President Bashar al-Assad said on Monday he would only meet Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan if the two countries could focus on the core issues of Ankara's support for "terrorism" and the pullout of Turkish forces from Syrian territory.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan accused Israel of having "no intention of peace" in Gaza during a press conference on Sunday with his Saudi counterpart, who was visiting Istanbul.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.