“Sweden’s accession to NATO will strengthen Hungary’s security,” said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the opening of the parliamentary session and called on MPs to vote for accession.
After the vote in Budapest, the Swedish Prime Minister declared on the online service X: “The parliaments of all NATO member states have now voted for Sweden to join NATO.” Sweden is ready to “assume its responsibility for Euro-Atlantic security.”
In May 2022, Sweden applied for membership in the Western military alliance together with its neighboring country Finland in response to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the vote. Sweden will become the 32nd country to be accepted into the alliance, the Norwegian wrote at X. “Sweden’s membership makes us all stronger and safer,” emphasized Stoltenberg.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) explained on
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the US welcomed “today’s vote in the Hungarian Parliament” and looked forward to ratification being completed.
The Hungarian President is expected to sign the accession protocol in the coming days. Sweden can then deposit its certificate of accession in Washington to officially become the 32nd member of the military alliance.
Hungary had initially declared that it supported Sweden’s accession in principle – but then stalled the candidate for membership for months, on the grounds, among other things, that Sweden was “denigrating” the Hungarian government and accusing it of violating the rule of law.
Before the vote in parliament, Orban praised Swedish Prime Minister Kristersson’s visit to Budapest on Friday, during which it was agreed to strengthen military cooperation between the two countries. Accordingly, Hungary will receive four more Swedish-made fighter jets.
Experts saw the stalling tactic as an attempt to obtain concessions from the EU and a release of billions of euros in currently frozen EU funds. Others saw this as a sign of Orban’s closeness to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
According to analyst Mate Szala, national interests were the main focus for the right-wing nationalist head of government. “He went as far as he could” and gave in just in time “so as not to cause serious problems for the transatlantic community,” Szala told AFP.
Traditionally non-aligned Sweden applied for membership in NATO together with its neighboring country Finland in May 2022 in response to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine. Finland was able to join NATO in April 2023, while Sweden had to wait due to the blockades by Turkey and Hungary. Ankara gave the green light for Swedish accession at the end of January.
Now “the Nordic countries will have a common defense for the first time in 500 years (…), we will remain friends and become allies,” Kristersson told reporters on Monday.
The end of the country’s freedom from alliances after around 200 years was received differently by the Swedish population. “I’m very relieved because we’ve been waiting for this for so long,” said 73-year-old pensioner Ingrid Lindskog to the AFP news agency. Otto Perrin, a 27-year-old sound engineer, said: “I don’t know what price we will have to pay for this. We will be involved with other countries that may not have the same values as us.”
