BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) – Turkey has completed ratifying Sweden's proposal to join NATO, making Hungary the last member of the military alliance not to give its approval.
After more than a year of delays and consistent pressure from Western partners to move forward with Sweden's application, the central European country and its conservative populist Prime Minister Viktor Orban are back in the spotlight.
Prime Minister Orbán compares Hungary's occupation status with EU member states and the Soviet Union in fiery speech
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has long promised that Hungary would not be the last NATO member to ratify Sweden's request to join the alliance. But Monday's approval in Turkey's parliament reverses those assurances, with alliance officials now asking “when will Budapest follow the Turkish government's lead?”
According to Orbán, the Hungarian government is in favor of Sweden joining NATO, but members of the ruling Fidesz party remain unconvinced, and some Swedish politicians have undermined the quality of democracy in Hungary. He is angry at the family's “blatant lies.''
Hungarian right-wing leader Viktor Orbán has insisted he is not opposed to Sweden joining NATO.
But Orbán's critics say there is no such division within the party and that he alone has the upper hand on Hungary's recognition of Sweden's NATO membership.
Turkey has made a series of specific demands on Sweden as a precondition for supporting its participation in the alliance, but has long been criticized in the European Union for alleged violations of democracy and rule of law standards. The Hungarian government has not made any such demands. He only hints that he expects more respect from Stockholm.
Hungarian opposition parties, which support Sweden's membership in NATO, have made several attempts over the past year to schedule a vote on the issue. However, members of the Fidesz party, which has a two-thirds majority in parliament, have refused to support it.
Agnes Vadaj, a member of the Hungarian opposition Democratic Union and former secretary of state at the Ministry of Defence, said the opposition was trying to force another vote on Sweden's membership before the next scheduled parliament in late February.
But she said it was “very unlikely” that Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's party would support the initiative, and that Hungary's concessionary attitude on the issue meant the prime minister was trying to prove his importance on the international stage. added.
“It has nothing to do with Sweden today and it has nothing to do with Turkey today. It's just President Orban's personal attitude,” she said. “This shows that he is driven not by political rationality, but by personal vanity. There is no longer any benefit for Hungary in this match. Because it's a game where there is.”
As Turkey's parliament prepares to vote on ratification on Monday, Prime Minister Orbán announced he has written to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, inviting him to Budapest to negotiate NATO membership.
Kristersson has not publicly commented on Orbán's letter, but Sweden's Foreign Minister Tobias Bilström has pointed out that Budapest has not offered conditions for accepting Sweden into the alliance, and that Hungarian He said there was “no reason” to negotiate.
On Tuesday, President Orbán tweeted that he spoke by phone with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, during which he “reaffirmed the Hungarian government's support for Sweden's membership in NATO,” and that he would continue to speak to parliament. He said he would work to approve Sweden's membership in NATO. bid.
But Dorka Takasy, an analyst and researcher at the Euro-Atlantic Center for Integration and Democracy, said Orbán's invitation to Kristersson meant the fate of Sweden's bid for NATO was in the hands of Hungarian lawmakers. He said this shows that the situation is not in the hands of Mr. Orbán himself, but rather in the hands of Mr. Orbán himself.
Orbán's letter “dismantles the theory that there was some kind of dispute within the Fidesz faction…it only points to the fact that it is the Prime Minister, Mr. Orbán himself, who is single-handedly managing this whole issue.” ,” she said.
Opposition lawmaker Vadai agreed.
“Those who believed it was in the hands of ruling party members made a grave mistake,” she said. “That was Mr Orbán's decision and no one else's.”
A vote on Sweden's NATO accession protocol is not yet on the Hungarian parliament's agenda, and the issue is unlikely to be considered by lawmakers until at least late February unless a surprise emergency session is called.
Hungary's delays and Prime Minister Viktor Orban's friendly relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin have frustrated other allies who want to expand the alliance and provide security to Sweden amid the Ukraine war.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Given these interests, Badaj said he was concerned that Orbán's actions on the international stage were damaging Hungary's relations with its Western partners.
“Right now he is pushing Hungary to the edge of NATO and is alienating my country,” she said. “This is just a sin.”
