Assembly Cmte. Rejects Sweden NATO Vote Proposal-Opp. Deputy

Opposition lawmaker Ágnes Vadai from the centre-left Democratic Coalition has confirmed that a committee of the National Assembly has rejected a proposal to hold a vote next week to ratify Sweden's accession to NATO. This confirmation of the proposal's rejection comes a day after Vadai and another opposition deputy claimed that the vote would be pushed back beyond next week, which marks the end of the legislature's spring session.

• The National Assembly's refusal to countenance a vote effectively ends the prospect of Sweden joining the defensive alliance before the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania 11-12 July.
• PM Viktor Orbán has faced down calls from other EU and NATO leaders to acquiesce to Sweden's accession, but so far has continued to hold firm. In May he stated that "The political relations between Hungary and Sweden are awfully wrong. We don't want to import conflicts into NATO."