Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billström said on Tuesday that Stockholm would not give any obligations to Hungary in exchange for the ratification of the protocol on its accession to the North Atlantic Alliance.
This is reported “European Truth” with reference to the Swedish agency TT.
When asked if Sweden would provide assurances to Hungary in connection with the NATO accession process, Bilström said: “No, and I will note that Finland, whose protocol has just been ratified (by Hungary – ed.), has exactly the same views on issues rule of law, just like Sweden, just like the EU.”
“There are no special memorandums, there are no special agreements with Hungary, and we do not intend to conclude them,” he stressed.
Earlier, the head of the Office of the Prime Minister of Hungary, Balazs Orban, said that the Hungarian deputies, in exchange for the ratification of the protocol on the accession of Sweden waiting for “assurances” from herthat Stockholm will not “intervene in the internal politics of Hungary in the same way that Hungary does in the affairs of Sweden.
To this, the head of the Swedish Foreign Ministry also noted that Sweden and the EU “clearly criticize the rule of law in Hungary, but I do not think that this issue is related to the process of joining NATO.”
As is known, of the 30 countries of the North Atlantic Alliance, only Turkey and Hungary did not approve the entry of Sweden and Finland into NATO. At the same time, Budapest decided to vote for the Finnish application separately only after the meeting of the presidents of Finland and Turkey in Ankara, when it became known that Turkey agreed to ratify Finland’s entry separately from Sweden.
On Monday, the Hungarian parliament after several months of delays final approval of Finland’s accession to NATO; Turkey is expected to do so by the end of the week.
