Viktor Orban removes the last obstacle for Sweden’s membership in NATO

2024-02-23 21:05:48

February 23, 2024
Today at
22:05

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has confirmed that his country will remove the final obstacle to Sweden’s NATO membership following the Nordic country agreed to sell fighter jets to Budapest.

He announced it at the start of the day, he kept his word: Viktor Orban, the Hungarian Prime Minister, has drawn a line under months of disagreement with Sweden concerning the expansion of NATO. He said his Swedish counterpart’s visit had restored confidence and paved the way for a decisive decision: the vote in the Hungarian Parliament for Sweden to join the alliance, reports the New York Times. Hungary was dragging its feet and was the last country not to have given its official approval to Sweden’s entry into NATO.

“We are ready to fight for each otherto lay down our lives for each other,” Viktor Orban said at a joint press conference in the Hungarian capital Budapest with Swedish leader Ulf Kristersson. The Hungarian parliament will take the “necessary decisions” to ratify the Nordic country’s membership of NATO At the beginning of next weekhe added.

The Hungarian parliament’s decision constitutes the final approval needed for Sweden’s entry into the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Hungary had dragged on for 19 months before ratifying Sweden’s membership in NATO, a procrastination that had aroused concern and annoyance in the United States and other members of the military alliance. Now that this last obstacle has been removed, Swedish membership will have to help the military alliance defend its eastern flank following Finland’s accession last April. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years ago prompted the two Nordic nations to seek membership in the bloc.

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Several reasons for this delay

But we get nothing for nothing: this sudden rapprochement between the two countries followed the decision of the Sweden to offer Hungary four fighter planes additional Gripen, in addition to the 14 already in service in its air force, and the promise of Saab, the manufacturer of war planes, ofopen an artificial intelligence research center in Hungary.

Orban insisted, however, that Sweden’s offer of new fighter jets and a research center was not linked to the agreement on NATO membership. This did not prevent the media controlled by his ruling party, Fidesz, from presenting the enhanced military cooperation with Sweden as a victory for Hungarian negotiating tactics.

Orban supports ending aid to Ukraine

For their part, Orban and other senior Hungarian officials have offered different explanations for the delay in Sweden’s accession. These included reproaches regarding Swedish accusations of democratic backsliding in Hungary under Orban, educational content criticizing Hungary in Swedish schools and statements made by Kristersson years before he took office.

Orban, seen as the most Russia-friendly leader in the European Union, once more advocated for stopping support for what he perceives as Ukraine’s futile fight once morest Russian attacks. He argued during a radio interview Friday that the victory of Donald Trump in the US elections in November might push the NATO alliance in this direction.

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