The Hungarian Parliament held an extraordinary session today at the request of opposition MPs to register the Sweden’s accession to NATO on the agenda, but the ruling party boycotted the meeting.

In a nearly empty semicircle, U.S. Ambassador to Budapest David Pressman took his seat at the back of the room, alongside 14 other representatives of NATO members — sending a strong message to pressure Hungary, which is the last which has not given its approval.

After Turkey’s green light in January, Hungary is the only country that has not approved the Nordic country’s accession to the North Atlantic alliance.

The Nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbanwho differs from other European Union leaders and maintains close ties to the Kremlin, supported the Swedish bid in principle but has been stalling for months.

“The prime minister has promised to act ‘at the earliest opportunity’. Monday’s meeting offers him one,” the US embassy wrote in a press release on Friday.

But his deputies Fidesz party, which has a large majority in parliament, did not go to the meeting, leaving only 51 opposition MPs — out of a total of 199 seats. Due to lack of quorum, the meeting was adjourned.

Orban is first waiting for the visit of his Swedish counterpart whom he invited to Hungary to restore “trust”, after years of “contempt” of the Hungarian government, which is accused of authoritarian deviation.

Ulf Christerson accepted the invitation, while rejecting the idea of ​​”negotiations” and “demands” in relation to NATO candidacy.

“If this is an important issue for the Swedes, their prime minister will undoubtedly come to Budapest,” Fidesz wrote in a statement sent to AFP.

Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó also said last week, in a video posted on Platform X, that it would be “fair” for Christerson to visit Hungary before ratification, as he had done in Turkey.

Viktor Orbán is extending the deadline “out of personal vanity,” lawmaker Agnes Vandai, a member of the Democratic Coalition, the largest opposition party, told AFP.

“He wants to make headlines in the international press, while reaching out to Russian President Vladimir Putin by undermining the unity of NATO and the EU,” at the risk of jeopardizing “Hungary’s national security,” he emphasizes.

Parliament meets again from February 26 and ratification can happen quickly once the prime minister gives his approval.

Sweden announced its bid to join NATO in May 2022, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, at the same time as Finland, which became the international body’s 31st member last April. After the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the two neighboring countries abandoned their decades-long neutrality regime.