The Swedish Prime Minister stated that he will ask the Hungary explanations of the reasons why the Hungarian Parliament chose to approve Finland’s NATO accession before Sweden’s. “I will ask why they separate Sweden’s accession from Finland’s. These are messages we haven’t seen before,” Ulf Kristerson told Swedish radio SR, adding that he “absolutely” intends to talk to his Hungarian counterpart. Viktor Orban, for this issue. The two men are participating in the EU summit. in Brussels, with Sweden holding the presidency of the 27 until the end of June.
The Hungarian Parliament surprised last week by setting a ratification date for Finland’s NATO membership to take place next Monday, but not for Sweden’s membership, which will take place “later”. The news added to the woes of Stockholm, whose historic membership of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is being blocked by Turkey, while the way is now wide open for the other Nordic country, Finland. Ankara accuses Sweden of harboring Kurdish “terrorist” fighters and refusing to extradite people – in a process where Swedish justice effectively has the final say. Only Ankara and Budapest have yet to ratify the membership of the two Nordic countries, which have historically been non-aligned. The remaining 28 members of the Alliance have done so.
Hungary’s nationalist Orban government says it supports Sweden and Finland joining NATO, but argues that the parliamentary majority in the Hungarian Parliament is fluid to ratify Swedish membership. “In the case of Finland, we have reached the point where it seems that a broad majority will support it, and we hope that the same will happen for Sweden as soon as possible,” Orban’s chief of staff, Gergeli Gulias, said this morning. He estimated that there are “good chances” that this “green” light will be given before the end of the spring session in Parliament, which ends on June 15. In addition to the impasse with Turkey, the Hungarian delay worries Sweden because of Viktor Orban’s ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin. A senior parliamentary official from Orban’s Fidesz party, during a visit to Sweden in early March, called on Swedish political officials to stop “lying” about rule of law violations in Hungary, in a long-contested case of Budapest with the European Union. Source: APE-MPE-AFP ⇒ News today
Follow it kathimerini.gr on Google News and be the first to know all the news See all the latest News from Greece and the World, at kathimerini.gr