After a closed committee session, Agnes Vadai told Reuters that
lawmakers of the ruling Fidesz and Christian Democrat parties on
the agenda-setting panel did not support putting the vote on the
agenda for next week's plenary session.
Sweden has set its sights on formal accession to NATO at the
alliance's July 11-12 summit and while it enjoys strong support
from other members including the United States, both Turkey and
Hungary have so far blocked ratification.
"The House committee has rejected putting the vote on the agenda
for next week," Vadai said, adding that her party would again
propose a vote on Monday at a full session of parliament.
She said it was "obvious" Fidesz would decide when to schedule
the vote depending on Turkey's stance.
"(Prime Minister) Viktor Orban moves in tandem with (Turkish
President Tayyip) Erdogan...ignoring Hungarian sovereignty
and... breaking the unity of NATO," she said. "As it stands
today, there won't be a ratification before the NATO summit."
Parliament's press office said the agenda of next week's session
would be made public later on Thursday. A government spokesman
and the Foreign Ministry did not reply to emailed Reuters
questions.
With Hungary's ratification process stranded in parliament since
last July, Orban aired concerns about Sweden and Finland's NATO
membership quest - spurred by Russia's invasion of Ukraine - for
the first time in February.
Among other criticisms, he has accused both countries of
spreading "outright lies" about the health of democracy and the
rule of law in Hungary, although Hungarian lawmakers approved
Finland's bid in late March.
Reiterating Turkey's position, Erdogan told NATO's secretary
general in a phone call on Sunday that Sweden must stop protests
by supporters of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in
Stockholm to obtain a green light to join the alliance.
On Wednesday, a Western official told Reuters that NATO allies
have accelerated efforts to convince Turkey to lift its
opposition to Sweden's accession but whether they would succeed
before the Lithuania summit is unclear.
(Reporting by Krisztina Than and Boldizsar Gyori, editing by
Mark Heinrich)
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