The parliamentary vote comes almost two years after the historically neutral Scandinavian country submitted an application to join the military alliance. Member states have received the reserves of Viktor Orbán's regime poorly.
The Hungarian parliament has finally approved Sweden's membership in NATO, nearly two years after the country applied to join the Western military alliance, putting an end to months of diplomatic disputes that member states had difficulty understanding. When everything indicated that lifting Turkey's veto would make Sweden join faster, it ended up not happening – Finland joined on its own a few months ago.
Somehow, member states have managed to understand Turkey's reluctance to join NATO – after all, a number of Turkish dissidents live in Sweden, and from this Scandinavian country, there are various activities opposing Erdogan's regime. But as far as Hungary was concerned, there were no clear good reasons to oppose Viktor Orban's government.
The vote, which took place in Budapest on Monday, followed a meeting on Friday between Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and his Hungarian counterpart, where they agreed to put aside their differences. The Swedish Prime Minister's visit appeared to be enough for Hungary to lift the veto, but even so, Orban said late last week that all conditions may not have been met yet.
But it seems that everything has finally been overcome. The two countries signed a new military agreement under which Sweden promised to sell four new Gripen aircraft, adding to the 14 aircraft that Hungary had previously purchased. Then, the leader of the parliamentary group supporting the Fidesz-led government was finally able to vote on the proposal. After Parliament's approval, the resolution will be sent to Hungarian interim President László Kóvír, who will have five days to sign it and send it to the US State Department in Washington.
According to NATO protocol, remember that the US government must be notified of the ratification of entry into a new country by member states.
“We respect each other's differences and sometimes reach good compromises,” Kristersson said on Friday, the day he arrived in Hungary. “And now we are also entering into joint cooperation with NATO with an attitude of readiness to fight for each other.”
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