Hungary’s government declines offer to meet US senators seeking approval for Sweden’s NATO bid

By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — A bipartisan delegation of U.S. senators has made an official visit to Hungary’s capital to call on the nationalist government to immediately approve Sweden’s request to join NATO. Hungary is the only one of NATO’s 31 members not to have ratified Sweden’s bid. The visiting senators announced they plan to submit a joint resolution to Congress condemning alleged democratic backsliding in Hungary and urging the government there to act on Sweden’s NATO membership. Making up the delegation in Budapest on Sunday were  Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat, and Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut. No members of Hungary’s government agreed to meet the senators.