Orban: Hungary Supports Sweden's NATO Membership

Victor Orban, the Prime Minister of Hungary, announced his phone call with Jens Stoltenberg, the NATO Secretary General, stating that he informed him that the Hungarian government supports Sweden's membership in the defense alliance. Mr. Orban wrote on his messaging platform on 'X' that he is asking the Hungarian parliament to vote positively on Sweden's accession to NATO and to finalize it as soon as possible. Mr. Stoltenberg also stated that the Prime Minister and the Hungarian government openly support Sweden's NATO membership. The Hungarian parliament voted to accept Finland into the NATO alliance last spring but left Sweden's membership application unresolved. The Hungarian parliament is currently on winter break and is not scheduled to meet for another three weeks. Previously, the Turkish parliament approved Sweden's NATO membership on Tuesday, February 3, making Hungary the only NATO member that has not yet ratified this accession. Following Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland decided to abandon their long-standing policy of non-alignment and sought NATO membership. Ankara, as a NATO member, delayed its positive vote and accused Sweden of not taking Turkey's security concerns seriously, including the fight against Kurdish groups and other groups that Ankara considers a 'security threat.' U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken previously expressed satisfaction on November 6 at a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan regarding Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's signing of the protocol for Sweden's NATO accession. Erdogan, who previously opposed Sweden's NATO membership, signed this protocol on November 1 and referred it to the Turkish parliament for approval.