Hungary\u2019s Prime Minister Viktor Orban told NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that his government supports Sweden\u2019s membership bid, potentially removing the final hurdle to accession after months of fraught negotiations. <\/p>\n
\u201cI reaffirmed that the Hungarian government supports the NATO membership of Sweden,\u201d Orban wrote Wednesday on X. <\/p>\n
Orban said he told Stoltenberg in a phone call he would urge Hungary\u2019s National Assembly to vote in favor of Sweden\u2019s bid to join the bloc at the first possible opportunity. The NATO chief said he welcomed Orban\u2019s \u201cclear support\u201d for Sweden\u2019s bid. <\/p>\n
Hungary was until this week one of two countries that objected to and obstructed Sweden\u2019s accession to NATO. The Turkish parliament voted Tuesday to approve Sweden\u2019s bid, allowing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to sign the protocol into law. <\/p>\n
Sweden and Finland applied for NATO membership in May 2022, swiftly after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine earlier that year. Finland joined NATO in April 2023 \u2013 doubling the alliance\u2019s border with Russia \u2013 but Sweden\u2019s bid was mired in challenges. <\/p>\n
Erdogan objected to Sweden\u2019s accession, accusing Swedish officials of being too lenient on militant groups, including the Kurdistan Workers\u2019 Party (PKK). Sweden has since tightened its anti-terror legislation and pledged closer cooperation with Turkey on security concerns. <\/p>\n
Another obstacle was Sweden\u2019s approval of a small Quran-burning demonstration outside a mosque in its capital, Stockholm, which coincided with the Muslim holiday of Eid-al-Adha, one of the most significant in the Islamic calendar. Turkey\u2019s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan condemned the decision, saying \u201cto turn a blind eye to such heinous acts is to be complicit in them.\u201d <\/p>\n
Erdogan\u2019s eventual approval was won in part by a commitment from the United States, with the Turkish president signaling that he won\u2019t sign the protocol into law unless Washington approves the sales of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara. US Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Ben Cardin said Tuesday that Congress is waiting for the completion of accession documents before moving forward on the matter. <\/p>\n
Orban, considered to be the European Union leader closest to Russian President Vladimir Putin, initially indicated he was not opposed to Sweden joining the bloc, before working to stall it. Katalin Cseh, a Hungarian Member of the European Parliament, said last year that Orban\u2019s blocking of Sweden\u2019s bid was \u201cquite simply, another favor to Vladimir Putin.\u201d <\/p>\n
But, following the Turkish parliament\u2019s decision, Orban on Tuesday said he had invited his Swedish counterpart Ulf Kristersson to visit Hungary to negotiate the terms of Sweden\u2019s accession. <\/p>\n
Stoltenberg said he had a \u201cgood call\u201d with Orban on Wednesday, adding \u201cI look forward to the ratification as soon as parliament reconvenes.\u201d <\/p>\n\n
Hungary\u2019s Prime Minister Viktor Orban told NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg that his government supports Sweden\u2019s membership bid, potentially removing the final hurdle to accession after months of fraught negotiations. \u201cI reaffirmed that the Hungarian government supports the NATO membership of Sweden,\u201d Orban wrote Wednesday on X. Orban said he told Stoltenberg in a phone call <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":14585,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14584","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14584\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14585"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}