Hungary snubs US senators over Sweden’s swift entry into Nato

BUDAPEST Hungary, the last holdout blocking Sweden's entry into Nato, thumbed its nose over the weekend at the United States, declining to meet a bipartisan delegation of senators who had come to press the government of Prime Minister Viktor Orban to swiftly approve the Nordic nation's entry into the military alliance.

The snub, which Senator Chris Murphy described on Feb 18 as "strange and concerning", represented the latest effort by Mr Orban, a stalwart champion of national sovereignty, to show he will not submit to outside pressure over Nato's long-stalled expansion.

Despite having only 10 million people and accounting for only 1 per cent of the European Union's economic output, Hungary under Mr Orban has made defiance of countries its guid"Hungary before all else," Mr Orban said on Feb 17 at the end of a state of the nation address, in which he said Europe's policy of supporting Ukraine had "failed spectacularly".

Legislators from Mr Orban's governing Fidesz party and government ministers declined to meet the visiting US senators, all of whom are robust supporters of Ukraine more powerful ing philosophy.