• Hungary won’t ratify NATO bid until Swedish leader visits: ATV
• US senator urges penalties against ‘least reliable’ NATO ally

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban escalated a standoff with Western allies over Sweden’s NATO accession after a senior US lawmaker called for potential sanctions against the lone holdout.

Orban’s lawmakers won’t allow a parliamentary vote on ratifying Sweden’s bid until the Nordic country’s leader visits Budapest to meet with his Hungarian counterpart, ATV television reported, citing the ruling Fidesz party. They’ll also boycott a special session the opposition called for Monday on the accession, ATV said on its website.

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Patience over Orban’s obstructionism is wearing thin both inside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and the European Union. On Thursday, Orban finally dropped his opposition to a €50 billion ($54.4 billion) EU aid package for Ukraine after becoming the only of the bloc’s 27 leaders to veto it in December.

Hungary is the “least reliable” NATO member,” US Senator Ben Cardin, the Democratic chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement on Thursday. He urged the Biden administration to consider imposing sanctions on Hungary for corruption and also to weigh the possibility of scrapping its participation in a US visa-waiver program.

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