Hungary was in no rush to ratify Sweden's NATO accession since "nothing is threatening Sweden's security," Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban told parliament on Monday, flagging a further delay in a process that has been stranded in parliament since last year.

Sweden's membership bid is on hold pending approval from Hungary and Türkiye.

Orban's statement came after other high-ranking Hungarian officials recently suggested that Sweden's ratification may not be put on the parliamentary agenda at all during the autumn session. On Thursday, the caucus leader of Orban's Fidesz party, Mate Kocsis, said he saw "little chance" that parliament would vote on the matter this year.

During the speech, Orban also said that Hungary will not support Ukraine in any issue in international affairs until the language rights of ethnic Hungarians there are restored.

Hungary clashed with Ukraine over what it says are curbs on the rights of roughly 150,000 ethnic Hungarians to use their native tongue, especially in education, after Kyiv passed a law in 2017 restricting the use of minority languages in schools.

He also said Hungary had been "deceived" by a European Union plan to allow Ukrainian grain to transit across Hungary after shipments across the Black Sea were hindered by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and that shipments of Ukrainian products ostensibly bound for Africa had been sold in Hungary for lower prices, pressuring domestic producers.

Orban said that cheaper Ukrainian grain had flooded Hungarian markets, creating a supply glut that had harmed its agricultural industry. Together with Slovakia and Poland, Hungary instituted an import ban on 23 Ukrainian agricultural products on September 15, but will continue to allow their transfer across its territory.

Hungary remains the only NATO member country, besides Türkiye, that hasn't yet approved Sweden's bid to join the alliance. Sweden, along with neighboring Finland, dropped its longstanding military neutrality after the Ukraine crisis, and quickly signaled its intention to join NATO.

(With input from agencies)