Should Hungary be punished for its stance on Ukraine?

After months of delay, the Hungarian parliament finally started the process of approving Finland and Sweden’s Nato membership this week. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s Fidesz party announced that it would back the two countries’ membership bids, but with Hungary the only country besides Turkey to have dragged its heels on the issue, he is again being accused of being the black sheep of the EU. 

Orbán claims that despite his personal endorsement of Finnish and Swedish Nato membership, his ‘MPs aren’t very enthusiastic.’ ‘Serious discussions’ are needed to persuade his disgruntled party members, he says, even though his MPs almost never rebel against the party line. The obvious implication is that Fidesz MPs are following his lead.

Recently Orbán has cited his unease about the creation of a new Nato-Russia border, suggesting that ‘given the situation in Ukraine, the potential for war which this presents is great.’