At the initiative of the US President, 120 countries will again hold a democracy summit next week without Hungary and Turkey, to which the two NATO countries have not been invited for two years – due to their democratic impotence.
“Biden rejects NATO allies who are dismantling their democracies” – He writes On the move of “Foreign Policy”, according to which Washington watches with increasing concern the decline of democracy in Turkey and Hungary, although it relies on both to support the West’s strategy against Russia.
The paper also states that Ankara and Budapest must still agree to Finland and Sweden’s intention to join NATO as full allies. Obviously, the Hungarian government has adapted the timing of the parliamentary vote to Erdogan’s actions. According to the current situation, Parliament will vote on Finland’s accession to NATO on March 27.
By the way, the announcement is the second case in a few days that the Western allies have bypassed the Hungarian government: NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told Foreign Minister Petr Sjärto the other day that he would convene a ministerial-level meeting of the NATO-Ukraine committee, despite Hungary’s negative position.
According to the US Foreign Policy paper, Viktor Orban’s Hungary has isolated itself from the European Union and NATO due to its democratic backsliding and Orban’s close Russian ties. At the same time, Orban’s government has consistently rejected Western criticism, while continuing to block EU-wide initiatives to help Ukraine and sanctions against Russia, according to Foreign Policy.
The newspaper says: “This refusal is likely to lead to more tension in the relationship between Washington and two allies in NATO and increase the distance between NATO and the rest of the European Union and the two external members.”
