Finland is today one step closer to becoming a full-fledged NATO state. After several delays, the Hungarian Parliament this afternoon finally gave its support to the accession of the Nordic country by an overwhelming majority (182 in favor and six against), but has avoided ruling on Sweden’s candidacy. Not even a year has passed since Helsinki and Stockholm submitted their formal application to join the military organization after decades of non-military alignment. The instability created by the Russian invasion of Ukraine forced the Scandinavian country to take a historic turn in its security and defense policies.
During the parliamentary date on the Finnish accession to the Atlantic Alliance, five deputies intervened (three from the opposition and two from the Government). the opponent Elöd Novak, from homeland movement, defended that Hungary opposes the transatlantic aspirations of Finland and Sweden.
However, the vast majority (135 of the 199 seats in the Chamber) enjoyed by Fidesz, Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling party, guaranteed broad support for Finland’s NATO bid. His spokesperson kill kocsishad already announced the group’s support on Friday.
Although Orban has never opposed enlargement to include the two Nordic countries, he has accused Sweden and Finland of “spread lies” on democracy and respect for the rule of law in Hungary.
From Helsinki, the Prime Minister, the Social Democrat Sanna Marin, thanked the Magyar Parliament for its support, while demanding the same treatment for Stockholm. “The NATO accessions of Finland and Sweden strengthen the security of the entire alliance. Sweden also becoming a NATO member before the Vilnius summit is in everyone’s interest,” she wrote on Twitter.
After the Magyar support for Finnish accession, Turkey remains the only one of the 30 NATO partners that have not yet given their consent. However, the way for the Turkish Parliament to give its approval seems clear after Recep Tayyip Erdogan confirm the finnish president, Sauli Niinistotheir support for Helsinki at the meeting they held in Ankara on March 17.
Things seem so favorable to us Sweden after the Hungarian Parliament announced a week ago a new delay in the parliamentary date on its accession. At the beginning of March, a delegation from the Hungarian legislature traveled to Stockholm to get first-hand information about its candidacy for NATO. The parliamentarians assured that Budapest had nothing against it, but denounced the slanders poured out in Sucia against Hungary.
In the opinion of Gunilla Herolf, a researcher at the Swedish Institute for Foreign Policy, “Hungary does not have any problematic issues or lawsuits in relation to Sweden, apart from this slander case, so it is very difficult to do anything.” In her opinion, Budapest is trying to use Swedish accession as a an instrument to put pressure on the EUwhich blocks 13,000 million euros in aid for violations of the rule of law.
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