US should weigh sanctions against Orban’s Hungary, senator says

A top US lawmaker called Hungarian Premier Viktor Orban the “least reliable” NATO ally and raised the prospect of imposing sanctions, laying bare growing exasperation with the eastern European leader.  

Senator Ben Cardin, the Democratic chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, condemned Orban’s stalling — until Thursday — on European Union funding for Ukraine and failure to approve Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The White House should weigh sanctions targeting corruption and consider removing Hungary from the US visa-waiver program, he said. 

Two other senators — Democrat Jeanne Shaheen and Republican Thom Tillis — said Orban risks “irrevocably damaging” Hungary’s relationship with the US and NATO if he doesn’t move on Sweden entering the military alliance.

The reprimand from Washington adds to European frustration with Orban, who has questioned the West’s commitment to protecting Ukraine against the Russia’s invasion and maintained Budapest’s ties with Moscow. This week he caved to EU pressure after blocking for weeks the bloc’s plan for €50 billion ($54.4 billion) in financial aid to Kyiv. 

Orban has “once again shown himself to be the least reliable member of NATO, in addition to unnecessarily delaying, until today, the European Union’s effort to provide much-needed economic assistance to Ukraine,” Cardin said in a statement Thursday. The US should consider deploying the Global Magnitsky Act, which allows the US to sanction foreign officials for corruption and human rights violations, he said. 

‘Patience Wearing Thin’

The Hungarian leader, a vocal supporter of former President Donald Trump who has been critical of President Joe Biden, took aim at what he called undue US influence in the 27-member bloc. 

“American pressure is becoming greater and greater on countries where the US can exert such pressure” within the EU, Orban said in a state radio interview early Friday. “I often have a feeling that they’re following American and not European interests with some decisions,” he added, in reference to some of Hungary’s EU partners.

All three senators took issue with Hungary’s refusal so far to ratify Sweden’s NATO membership. Shaheen and Tillis, co-chairs of the Senate NATO Observor Group, said in a joint statement that “both time and patience are wearing thin” with Hungary’s inaction. 

Orban signaled that the Hungarian parliament would move to ratify, but he first wanted to host Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Budapest. The two leaders had a brief encounter on the sidelines of the EU summit in Brussels, where the Nordic leader politely rebuffed the invitation, saying he would make the trip after ratification. 

Hungarian opposition parties called a special session of parliament on Monday for the ratification, which had been languishing in the legislature for more than a year. Orban has attributed the delay to his own lawmakers, who have a supermajority in the chamber and rarely break ranks in the Fidesz party, which is tightly controlled by the prime minister.

Ruling party members, including the speaker of parliament, have flagged that they’re in no rush to move on Sweden, meaning the chamber is likely to give its backing on Feb. 26 at the earliest, when lawmakers reconvene from their winter recess.