Stockholm will demand explanations from Hungary on why it is delaying in the parliament to support Sweden’s accession to NATO until Finland’s accession is not slowed down, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson announced on Thursday.
“I will ask why they are separating Sweden from Finland now. We have not received such signals before, so I will definitely discuss this with [Ungārijas premjerministru Viktoru] Orbán,” Christerson told public radio “Sveriges Radio”.
Orban and Christerson are participating in the European Union (EU) summit in Brussels today.
Last May, Sweden and Finland submitted an application for NATO membership, which must be approved by all 30 NATO members. Both countries have expressed hope to be accepted into the alliance by the NATO summit in Vilnius in July.
Turkey and Hungary are the only NATO members that still have not ratified the requests of Finland and Sweden to join the alliance.
Orban’s ruling party “Fidesz” has announced that the parliament will ratify Finland’s accession to NATO on March 27, but the decision will be made later in the case of Sweden.
The head of Orban’s office, Gergejs Gujas, announced today that there is a good chance that Sweden’s accession to NATO will be supported in this parliamentary session, which will last until June 15.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also asked the parliament to quickly ratify Finland’s request to join NATO, but Turkey has paused on the Swedish issue.
Turkey accuses Sweden of not being tough enough on people and organizations that Ankara considers terrorist.
