No Breakthrough for Sweden or Ukraine at NATO Summit

Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on the second day of NATO Summit.

Ukraine has received neither an invitation nor a concrete timetable for future accession, and the ratification of Sweden’s accession to NATO will be submitted to Turkish Parliament in October. Hungary will have an important and inescapable role in the newly adopted NATO deterrence and defense plans.

The danger of an escalation of war has been avoided by the fact that Ukraine has received neither an invitation nor a concrete timetable for future accession at the NATO summit, which can only take place once all conditions have been met, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Péter Szijjártó, said in Vilnius on Wednesday. Ukraine had to settle for a modest result, compared to its previously communicated expectations, according to the Foreign Ministry’s statement.

Only the body transformed from the NATO-Ukraine Committee into the NATO-Ukraine Council represents any progress in NATO-Ukraine relations, Szijjártó pointed out.

A decision has been made that does not risk escalating the war, and the member states have made it clear that Ukraine will be invited to join NATO only if it fulfills all the conditions and if the Allies unanimously agree to this,”

the Minister emphasized.

The Kiev government must continue to prepare annual national plans, and these must include political reforms, for example in the area of minority rights, as NATO is not just a defense alliance, but also a values-based community, he added.

Szijjártó welcomed the fact that Hungary met the NATO target ahead of schedule and raised its defense spending to over two percent of gross domestic product (GDP).

“We have fulfilled what we committed to NATO, the two percent threshold, and we have fulfilled our commitment to spend more than one-fifth, more than twenty percent of defense spending on development long before that. In this respect, we are again in the category of reliable allies,” he concluded.

Hungary has an important and inescapable role in the newly adopted NATO deterrence and defense plans,

Defense Minister Kristóf Szalay-Bobrovniczky announced in a video posted on his Facebook page on Wednesday.

In addition to Hungary spending two percent of its GDP on defense this year with the same proportion planned for next year’s budget, it is also performing well in joint missions with NATO member states, such as Kosovo Force (KFOR) and international air defense missions, while continuing the planned development of its armed forces.

On the war in Ukraine, he maintained that Hungary stands by the position that an immediate ceasefire and peace talks are needed, and “we will not supply lethal means, we will not participate, we will not drift into war and we will avoid its escalation,” he concluded.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announed at a news conference at the end of the two-day NATO summit in Vilnius that he

would submit the ratification of Sweden’s accession to NATO to the Ankara legislature at the beginning of the autumn session of parliament.

He held talks with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson in Vilnius on Monday evening before the meeting, reaching a new agreement under which Sweden would actively support the updating of the customs union and the Schengen visa waiver for Turkey’s accession to the EU, in addition to meeting Turkey’s previously expressed expectations, mainly on counter-terrorism measures.

Jens Stoltenberg announced after Monday evening’s meeting that the Turkish President had agreed to forward the protocol on Sweden’s accession to the Turkish Parliament as soon as possible and would work closely with the body to ratify it. The Turkish Parliament begins its autumn session on October 1 each year.

Featured image: Photo: Facebook/Szijjártó Péter