The ruling Fidesz party has boycotted the special session of parliament to ratify Sweden’s Nato membership. In their absence, parliament lacked a quorum and the session lasted less than an hour. Fidesz did not specify why they had boycotted the session.

Hungary remains the only EU member state not to have ratified Sweden's accession to Nato. Earlier, Budapest expressed its dissatisfaction with unfriendly remarks made by Swedish politicians and engaged in discussions with Stockholm to address the issue.

After the spring session of parliament ended on July 7, speaker Laszlo Kover had to call an emergency meeting because the initiative was supported by 49 opposition lawmakers

The session was convened by opposition party Momentum after Turkey had announced its support for Sweden's accession at the Nato summit held in Vilnius earlier this month. The initiative was supported by all other opposition parties except radical-right wing Our Homeland.

Opposition LMP has called on the Hungarian parliament to ratify Sweden’s accession to Nato as soon as possible. There was "no sane reason for the government parties to block Sweden’s entry" into the alliance, deputy group leader Antal Csardi said.

The speaker of DK said it was a "serious sin" on the part of Viktor Orban and his government that Hungary had by now remained the only EU and Nato member to oppose membership of EU member Sweden to the military bloc. "Viktor Orban is serving Putin and a postponement of the ratification serves Putin's interests," DK MP Laszlo Varju said.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto acknowledged on July 28, after meeting his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, that the two countries have coordinated their actions.

This has been true in the case of Finland as well.

Hungarian lawmakers ratified Finland's accession to Nato in Mach, nine months after the country applied for membership in the military alliance only after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced his country's support.

The Turkish leader changed course and approved Sweden’s bid just before the Vilnius Nato summit, which caught Hungary’s diplomacy off guard.

Right after the announcement, Szijjarto said the ratification process was only a "technical issue".

Hungary has stated repeatedly that it has no intention to block Sweden’s admission to the alliance and "will not be the last to ratify this agreement".

Viktor Orban’s nationalist government apparently wants to avoid that scenario as it would further tarnish the country’s international reputation but does not want to put its ally Turkey in an uncomfortable position either. The government’s obstruction represents a moral low for the country’s diplomacy, according to analysts.