The Hungarian parliament is expected to conclude the process by mid-December.Continue reading
Parliament will only put the issue of the Swedish and Finnish NATO-membership on the agenda next year. According to observers, Hungary is exerting pressure on the EU.
The issue of the NATO membership of Sweden and Finland will be on the Hungarian parliament’s agenda at the first session next year, Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said at a joint press conference after the V4 summit in Košice (Kassa), Slovakia on Thursday.
He stressed that Hungary is supporting the NATO membership of Finland and Sweden.
The Swedes and the Finns have not lost a single minute because of Hungary so far, and they will not do so in the future; Hungary will certainly be providing the support required for their accession,
Orbán added.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki recently said that at the V4 summit he will ask Orbán to speed up the ratification process.
In its report, the 24.hu portal pointed out that 28 of NATO’s 30 members have already signed the treaties. Alongside Hungary, so far only Turkey has not yet ratified the accession applications of the two northern European countries.
In October, the opposition Socialist Party (MSZP) tried to put two bills on the agenda that would have given Sweden and Finland parliamentary support for NATO accession. These were, however, rejected by Speaker László Kövér on his own authority, and when MSZP called for an open vote on the proposal, it was repeatedly voted down by the governing Fidesz-KDNP majority.
Gergely Gulyás, the Minister heading the Prime Minister’s Office, was asked about this topic at several press conferences in recent weeks. The politician said that
first the resolutions aimed at reaching an agreement with the European Commission on the withheld Hungarian EU funds should be adopted by the Parliament, and only then should the resolutions on Finnish and Swedish NATO membership be ratified.
He repeatedly hinted that this was expected in December. He stressed that this was not a means of exerting pressure.
According to observers, the Hungarian government is putting pressure on Europe on three fronts: it opposes a joint borrowing to support Ukraine (and wants to support its neighbor bilaterally), opposes the global minimum tax, and it is in no hurry to ratify the two Nordic countries’ NATO membership.
The government has expressed concerns based on principles on the first two issues, while on the third it argues that other decisions take priority. In regard to negotiations with the EU, the government is optimistic, but the European Commission is constantly imposing new conditions to release the blocked funds.
Featured photo via NATO