Hungary's ruling parliamentary party, Fidesz, has set a new date for ratification of Sweden's and Finland's NATO membership bids.

The originally approved timetable called for a vote on Sweden and Finland's accession to NATO in the week of March 20, but then the vote was delayed by one week.

The publication notes that parliamentarians explain the reasons for the delays by negotiations with the European Commission, although earlier Prime Minister Viktor Orban said that the Hungarian authorities do not associate NATO expansion with negotiations in Brussels on the rule of law. In particular, according to HVG, Gyorgy Balla, deputy leader of the Fidesz faction, explained the series of vote delays as follows: "Brussels lies like a pig."

Earlier, Politico wrote that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban may try to use his influence on NATO expansion to extract concessions from the EU. The publication calls Hungary a "troublemaker in Europe", noting that while NATO members are more concerned about Turkey's position on Finland and Sweden joining the alliance, the government of Viktor Orban is also delaying the ratification of the application of these countries.

So far, 28 out of 30 NATO members have ratified Finland's and Sweden's accession to NATO. Only Hungary and Turkey have not yet done so.

Today, March 17, Finnish President Sauli Niinistö will meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara. He is scheduled to discuss Turkey's ratification of Helsinki's application for NATO membership.