Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has offered to meet his Hungarian counterpart, Viktor Orban, in Brussels next week to discuss his country's NATO application and other bilateral issues, the government said on January 25. In a letter to Orban, Kristersson said he would also accept an invitation received earlier this week to meet in Budapest "at a time convenient for both of us." On January 23, Orban invited Kristersson to Budapest to negotiate his country joining the bloc. Hungary's parliament speaker said on January 25 that there was no urgency in approving Sweden's NATO membership bid. Hungary's opposition will probably request an extraordinary parliament session to ratify Sweden's bid but their effort will likely fail, Laszlo Kover told Index.hu, and he "feels no particular urgency, there is no extraordinary situation" regarding Sweden's bid. Orban said on January 24 that he told NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that Hungary supported Sweden's membership, and would urge parliament to "conclude the ratification at the first possible opportunity."
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