The long wait for Stockholm has come to an end. After months of delay, the Parliament of Hungary finally ratified yesterday the entry of Sweden into NATO, which leaves the way for the incorporation into the Atlantic Alliance, which the Nordic country had requested on May 2022 together with neighboring Finland as a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Hungary was the only one of the 31 NATO countries that had not yet given its yes to Swedish accession, within a dilatory policy of the ultra-conservative Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán. The entry of a new member must be accepted by each and every member of the alliance.
“Sweden’s entry into NATO strengthens Hungary’s security, so I ask you to support the proposal,” Orbán said in a brief speech at the beginning of the parliamentary session. The Hungarian Parliament – where his party, Fidesz, has a two-thirds supermajority – gave yes to the entry by a total of 188 votes in favor and 6 against. It is now up to the President of the Republic, Tamás Sulyok – who was also elected yesterday by Parliament after the resignation of her predecessor – to stamp the signature on the ratification to complete the Hungarian phase of the process.
Sulyok’s inauguration is scheduled for March 5. In the meantime, the president of the Parliament, László Kövér, is temporarily acting as head of state, so that for eight days the final ratification signature will be in his hands; therefore, Sweden may still have to wait a little longer. After that, the Hungarian ratification document will be deposited in Washington, and the rest are formalities.
Almost two years after the request, Sweden will then become member number 32 of the Atlantic Alliance, and abandon two centuries of military neutrality. Finland joined in April 2023.
The Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, welcomed Hungary’s move on the X social network. “I welcome with satisfaction the vote of the Hungarian Parliament to ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO. Now that all allies have approved it, Sweden will become NATO’s 32nd ally. Sweden’s presence will make us all stronger and safer,” Stoltenberg wrote. “A historic day. The parliaments of all NATO countries have voted for Sweden’s entry. We are ready to assume our share of the responsibility for NATO’s security”, the Swedish prime minister, the conservative Ulf Kristersson, also wrote to X.
Orbán’s Hungary made Sweden wait without specific demands, beyond the complaint for Swedish criticism of the state of health of Hungarian democracy with the current ultra-nationalist Government. When Turkey, the other member of the alliance that would delay ratification citing Sweden’s alleged permissiveness with Kurdish terrorism, gave its yes on January 23, Hungarian isolation began to be uncomfortable for Orbán himself, that on the same day he formally invited by letter the Swedish leader Kristersson to travel to Budapest to discuss the issue. The Swedish Prime Minister declined, while Orbán insisted that the vote in Parliament could wait until the resumption of sessions after the winter break, from February 26.
Finally, Orbán confirmed the voting day, and then Ulf Kristersson’s visit to Budapest materialized on Friday, in which a contract was signed for the purchase of four Swedish Saab JAS Gripen fighters for the army Hungarian air, and the differences were officially settled. Orbán said yesterday in the speech in the chamber that the visit “contributed to create a fair and respectful relationship” between the two countries, beyond the “differences of opinion”.
At the same session, Parliament elected the candidate proposed by Fidesz as President of the Republic. The position was pending assignment following the February 10 resignation of Katalin Novák for having pardoned a sexual abuse cover-up. The new Head of State, the jurist Tamás Sulyok, 67 years old, has presided over the Constitutional Court since 2016 and is a confidant of Viktor Orbán. With this election, the prime minister puts an end to the crisis triggered by the pardon scandal, which threatened to undermine him politically a few months before the European elections.
