No Change in Government’s Position on Sweden’s NATO Accession

On Monday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan signed the protocol on Sweden’s accession to NATO, concluding a year-and-a-half long process. However, Sweden’s accession to NATO is not yet complete, as the Turkish parliament has yet to vote on it and the Hungarian parliament has not yet decided.

ATV contacted Fidesz parliamentary group leader Máté Kocsis, whose press office replied that “the Hungarian parliament is sovereign, it is proceeding according to its own agenda.”

Furthermore, in response to a question from ATV, the press office of the National Assembly confirmed that

The ratification of Sweden’s accession to NATO is not on the agenda of the upcoming plenary session of the National Assembly. It is for the House Committee to decide on the agenda for further sittings, and in the absence of consensus, for the Speaker of Parliament.”

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó also commented on the events, stating that “the fact that the Turkish President has submitted a draft law to the parliament approving the Scandinavian country’s accession to NATO has not changed the situation in Hungary.”

According to a statement by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Foreign Minister said that he had spoken to his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan earlier in the day, who informed him that the ratification of Sweden’s NATO membership had been submitted to the parliament in Ankara.

This does not change our situation. Hungary’s parliament is the sovereign parliament of a sovereign country, so it will make a sovereign decision on this issue,”

he stressed.

“And now that the matter has also been submitted to the Turkish Parliament, the Turkish Parliament is practically where the Hungarian Parliament has been for many months, as the government has already submitted the draft resolution for ratification to the Hungarian Parliament,” he concluded.

Via MTI, ATV, Featured image: Pixabay