President : Katalin Novák
Prime Minister : Viktor OrbánThey
wereare
the last to deny Sweden’s accession to NATO … is there some connections here ?
Edit : thanks to @ObviouslyNotBanana for correctionHungary is basically a one man state since 2010, Orbán is the god-emperor, all other people in government just talking heads. Novák was a second line random politician before elected as president, noone understood why she was selected. In Hungary president is elected by the parliament where Orbán has supermajority, he can do whatever he wants. It’s his decision Sweden is not in Nato yet, noone else’s
Ugh, not his decision, Putin’s decision. Orban is Putin’s puppet?
We don’t really know the actual power mechanics, but Orbán is populist, he just do whatever the best for him. Usually that’s the same as Putin wants, but last time he let other EU leaders send money to Ukraine, while he went out for a coffee break: https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/12/20/olaf-scholz-s-successful-coffee-break-strategy-with-viktor-orban_6359543_4.html So it’s not as clear.
From this current NATO deny, some speculate he wants money from Sweden. Most EU funds are blocked, Russians don’t have money anymore for him, local population don’t like Chinese battery factories they planned, and other Chinese investments are also slowed down because too much was stolen.
As a hungarian who lives in sweden this is pretty interesting.
From wiki:
She has been criticised for being too lenient when granting presidential pardons. Two of the more controversial cases happened in April 2023 when she pardoned domestic terrorist György Budaházy[13] and the vice principal of a foster home in Bicske, who tried to cover up the principal’s crimes when the latter was charged for child molestation.[14] The vice principal’s pardon became known to the public only on 2 February 2024. Subsequently there were protests demanding Novák’s resignation.[15] She resigned on 10 February 2024.[16] Judit Varga who countersigned the pardon as Minister of Justice, also resigned alongside the president.[17]