With the Turkish parliament's vote to ratify Sweden's joining NATO, and President Erdogan's expected approval imminent, the only remaining obstacle is pro-Putin saboteur Viktor Orbán, Hungary's prime minister. The pressure is now on this Trump-loving autocrat to stop obstructing:
Viktor Orbán has said he will urge the Hungarian parliament to sign off on Sweden’s Nato bid “at the first possible opportunity”, as diplomats said Hungary’s allies were “exasperated” by the country’s foot-dragging.
Sweden applied to join Nato in May 2022 but its accession was delayed as Turkey and Hungary strung out the ratification process.
On Tuesday night, Turkey’s parliament voted in favour of Swedish membership, but Hungary’s parliament has yet to sign off, despite repeated promises from senior Hungarian officials that their country would not hold up the process alone.
Just as Turkey’s parliament prepared to vote, Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, surprised allies by issuing a public invitation to his Swedish counterpart to visit Budapest for talks on the Nato accession process.
“Allies are exasperated,” said a senior European diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive internal matters. “That Orbán offered ‘negotiation’ while Hungary never raised objections during the accession talks is outrageous.”
A second senior European diplomat echoed the frustration. “I think allies expected Hungary to abide by their commitment not to be the last,” they said. “The recent moves sent shock waves throughout the alliance, and a great dose of disappointment is there. After all, they had all the time in the world to consult with Sweden before.”
With Tuesday’s vote in the Turkish parliament, Ankara’s portion of the process is nearly complete – though the first diplomat cautioned that it was “not a done deal” as the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, needed to sign the ratification.
On Wednesday, as pressure mounted, Orbán said he had spoken on the phone with the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg.
“I reaffirmed that the Hungarian government supports the Nato membership of Sweden. I also stressed that we will continue to urge the Hungarian national assembly to vote in favour of Sweden’s accession and conclude the ratification at the first possible opportunity,” Orbán said, without offering a concrete timeline...
Time's run out, Viktor. There's no using Turkey as an excuse for delaying Sweden's entry into NATO any more. You've done the best rear guard action you could for your patron Putin. (Of course, in a more perfect world, our preference would be trading the far more strategically and militarily important Sweden for Hungary in NATO, as long as Orbán and his party is in control.)
It would be fitting if Sweden's entry to NATO is completed before the next NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels on February 15. This year marks the 75th anniversary of the alliance, and with Sweden (and Finland's) accession, it's in a stronger position than ever to serve as a democratic bulwark to the pretensions of war criminal Putin and other autocrats around the world.
(Image: designer491 / Alamy Stock Photo)
