The Parliament of Hungary ratified this Monday Sweden’s entry into NATO, finally clearing the way for its incorporation into the Atlantic Alliance, which the Nordic country requested in May 2022 along 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 said yes to Swedish accession, within a delaying policy by 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 – voted 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 this Monday by Parliament after the resignation of his predecessor – to sign his signature on the ratification to complete the Hungarian phase of the process.
Sulyok’s inauguration is scheduled for March 5. Meanwhile, the President of Parliament, László Kövér, is acting as interim head of state, meaning that for eight days the definitive ratification signature will be in his hands, so Sweden may have to wait even a little longer. Then the Hungarian ratification document will be deposited in Washington, and the rest are formal procedures.
Almost two years after the request, Sweden will then become the 32nd member of the Atlantic Alliance, thus abandoning two centuries of military neutrality. Finland joined in April 2023, adding 1,340 kilometers of land border with Russia to the defensive alliance.
The Secretary General of the Alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, welcomed the step taken by Hungary on the social network “I welcome 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 to join. “We are ready to assume our share of responsibility for NATO security,” the Swedish Prime Minister, the conservative Ulf Kristersson, also wrote in X.
Orbán’s Hungary made Sweden wait without concrete demands, beyond the complaint about 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 was delaying ratification alleging Sweden’s alleged permissiveness with Kurdish terrorism, gave its yes on January 23, Hungarian isolation began to be uncomfortable for Orbán himself, who that same day invited formally by letter to 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 for the resumption of sessions after the winter recess, starting on February 26.
Finally Orbán confirmed the voting day and then Ulf Kristersson’s visit to Budapest materialized last Friday, in which a contract for the purchase of four Swedish Saab JAS Gripen fighters for the Hungarian Air Force was signed, and the rough spots were officially resolved. filed. Orbán said this Monday in his speech to the chamber that the visit “contributed to creating a fair and respectful relationship” between the two countries, beyond the “differences of opinions.”
In the same session, Parliament elected the candidate proposed by Fidesz as President of the Republic. The position was pending assignment after the resignation on February 10 of Katalin Novák for having pardoned a sexual abuse concealer. The new head of state, jurist Tamás Sulyok, 67, has presided over the Constitutional Court since 2016 and is a trusted person of Viktor Orbán. With this election, the prime minister settles the crisis triggered by the pardon scandal, which threatened to undermine him politically a few months before the European elections.
