Viktor Orbán has said he will urge the Hungarian parliament to sign off on Sweden’s Nato bid “at the first possible opportunity”, as diplomats said Hungary’s allies were “exasperated” by the country’s foot-dragging,
The Guardian reports.
Sweden applied to join Nato in May 2022 but its accession was delayed as Turkey and Hungary strung out the ratification process.
On Tuesday night, Turkey’s parliament voted in favour of Swedish membership, but Hungary’s parliament has yet to sign off, despite repeated promises from senior Hungarian officials that their country would not hold up the process alone.
Just as Turkey’s parliament prepared to vote, Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, surprised allies by issuing a public invitation to his Swedish counterpart to visit Budapest for talks on the Nato accession process.
“Allies are exasperated,” said a senior European diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters. “That Orbán offered ‘negotiation’ while Hungary never raised objections during the accession talks is outrageous.”
A second senior European diplomat echoed the frustration. “I think allies expected Hungary to abide by their commitment not to be the last,” they said. “The recent moves sent shock waves throughout the alliance, and a great dose of disappointment is there. After all, they had all the time in the world to consult with Sweden before.”
With Tuesday’s vote in the Turkish parliament, Ankara’s portion of the process is nearly complete – though the first diplomat cautioned that it was “not a done deal” as the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, needed to sign the ratification.
On Wednesday, as pressure mounted, Orbán said he had spoken on the phone with the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.
“I reaffirmed that the Hungarian government supports the Nato membership of Sweden. I also stressed that we will continue to urge the Hungarian national assembly to vote in favour of Sweden’s accession and conclude the ratification at the first possible opportunity,” Orbán said, without offering a concrete timeline.
The Nato friction comes at a time of growing frustration in western capitals over Hungary’s blocking of long-term EU assistance for Ukraine.
