Hungarian Prime Minister Gives Green Light to Parliament for Sweden's NATO Membership Approval

Victor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, told his supporters on Saturday, February 17, that the parliament of his country could approve Sweden's membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after its new spring session convenes at the end of this month. In his speech, Orban mentioned that the disputes between Hungary and Sweden would soon be resolved, stating that the two countries are moving towards a point where the Hungarian parliament can approve Sweden's accession to NATO. The Hungarian parliament will resume its activities on March 1 after the winter recess. Sweden requested to join NATO nearly two years ago in a historic policy shift following Russia's military invasion of Ukraine and Sweden's concerns about a similar attack on its territory. In his speech, Orban, without going into details, said that he and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson have taken steps to 'rebuild trust' and 'improve relations' between the two countries. Hungary is the only NATO country that has not yet approved Sweden's membership request, a process that requires the support of all NATO members. This delay has also strained relations with the United States and raised concerns among its allies. Orban's ruling party, Fidesz, has called Sweden's claims about the erosion of democracy in Hungary 'baseless' and cited it as the main reason for delaying the approval of Sweden's NATO membership. Turkey, another opponent of Sweden's NATO membership, agreed to Sweden's request earlier this month after resolving its disputes with the country. Orban faced the most challenging period of his 14-year premiership last week. Katalin Novák, the resigning President of Hungary, recently pardoned a man who had helped cover up child sexual abuse cases. The revelation of this issue sparked a major scandal, leading to widespread street protests and the resignation of both the President and the Minister of Justice, key allies of Orban. In his first public statement following the President's resignation, Orban said that the government would emerge 'stronger' by focusing on the economy and the upcoming European Parliament elections in the summer, which should strengthen right-wing political forces in Europe and bring about changes in Brussels. He described the President's resignation as a 'nightmare' but stated that it was the right action. Orban added that the government would propose legislation to strengthen child protection. Orban, who has been at odds with the European Commission over his government's actions to limit media freedom, the rights of sexual and gender minorities, and immigration policies, stated that this year could bring significant changes in Europe and other parts of the world.