Sometime after at 4 p.m. today, members of parliament will press the yes or no button.
The session starts already at 1 p.m. with Prime Minister Viktor Orbán giving a speech. His government has received an unusual amount of criticism recently after a man who was involved in a pedophile scandal was pardoned.
Both the president and the minister of justice have been forced to resign, but the protests continue. Most recently on Sunday, when there was a large demonstration outside the parliament.
During Monday, the parliament is also expected to elect a new president. Orbán’s party has proposed that the president of the Constitutional Court, Tomás Sulyok, take over, a lawyer who has said in previous interviews that he is not interested in politics.
A lot of it the Hungarian spotlight will thus be directed at Orbán’s speech and the election of a new president.
As far as the Swedish NATO application is concerned, everything is set for a yes. Orbán’s ruling Fidesz-KDNP alliance has said they should vote yes, and they hold two-thirds of the seats. In addition, several of the opposition parties will vote yes.
Last Friday, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) visited Viktor Orbán in Budapest, which has been a demand from some critical parliamentarians who saw the visit as a way to show respect for Hungary. During the visit, a new defense agreement was also presented, where Hungary buys four Jas 39 Gripenplanes.
The resistance to approving Sweden has largely been about Hungarian politicians being dissatisfied with Swedish politicians criticizing how democracy and the legal system have deteriorated in Hungary in recent years.
