(RFI) The speaker of the Hungarian parliament, Sandor Lezsak, has signed the text ratifying Sweden’s accession to NATO and sent the document to the president’s office for promulgation, the Hungarian National Assembly’s website reported on Saturday (2). NATO allies have exerted intense pressure on the government of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to fall into line and seal Sweden’s membership of the alliance. The Hungarian president now has five days to pass the law.
Hungarian parliamentarians gave the go-ahead for the Scandinavian country to join the Atlantic Alliance on February 26, thus removing the last obstacle to a historic change, since Stockholm always opted for “neutrality” during the two world wars and the Cold War.
The Hungarian vote puts an end to months of delay in implementing the change in Sweden’s security policy and follows a visit by Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, during which the two countries signed an arms supply contract agreement.
Sweden’s accession follows Finland’s last April, but Stockholm had to wait longer due to vetoes from Turkey and Hungary, both of which enjoy good relations with Russia.
Turkish refusal and Erdogan’s negotiation
For some time, Turkey refused to ratify Sweden’s accession, demanding stricter measures against Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants based in the country. To meet Ankara’s demands, Sweden changed its laws and relaxed the rules on arms sales.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also made the lifting of his veto conditional on the United States approving the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Ankara.
The additions of Sweden and Finland represent the biggest expansion of NATO since its expansion into Eastern Europe at the end of the 1990s. Stockholm abandoned its policy of military non-alignment in favor of greater security within the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
(With AFP) *** Translated by DEFCONPress FYI Team ***