Hungary’s president says Swedish officials must make their case for NATO accession

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Sweden must prove they deserve accession to NATO, the President of Hungary, Katalin Novák, said on Wednesday (8 November) as she urged national parliamentarians to sign off the country’s bid.

Stockholm applied to join the Western military alliance shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, but Turkey and Hungary have delayed approval, while all other members of NATO approved the accession last year.

The bid is awaiting approval by both national parliaments, the last step required in the accession procedure, but with neither country setting a date for a vote, uncertainty remains.

“The Hungarian parliament should vote to ratify without further delay,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters after meeting with Novák, repeating his previous calls.

Novák, the chief commander of the Hungarian Armed Forces, refused to give a timeline and showed no indication of being ready to give the green light other than urging parliament to make up their minds.

“What I would like is to urge right now is that the [Hungarian] parliamentarians take a quick and wise decision,” she told reporters after meeting at NATO’s Headquarters.

“There are more reasons for Sweden’s accession than against,” she added.

But she said that members of the parliament felt overlooked, as Sweden had “showed no interest in convincing the parliamentarians in convincing them of their position,” she said.

“I don’t know if it would help if the Swedish government approached the Hungarian government, or Swedish politicians approached Hungarian politicians, trying to convince them the necessity of the decision,” she said.

“I will do my utmost to reach a quick decision in Hungary, trying to convince the parliamentarians, but it might not be enough,” the president said.

Until now, NATO has not taken any steps to mediate the issue, and diplomats have repeatedly dismissed the issue of the Hungarians hindering the ratification process.

They instead piled pressure on Ankara, who had postponed the ratification moves over claims Stockholm did not tackle terrorism strongly enough and acted as a haven for Kurdish activists Ankara regards as terrorists.

In addition, Hungary’s government accused Stockholm of meddling and criticising democracy and the rule of law in the country in an X post in September and used this claim to justify parliament’s delay.

Novák said she understood that the issue remained. “I hear that many or some of [the parliamentarians] argue that Sweden is or has been quite vocal in condemning the functioning of the parliament or stated a lack of democracy in the country,” she told reporters.

“The Hungarian government has repeatedly said that it will not be the last NATO Ally to ratify Sweden’s accession; now I count on Hungary to fulfil that commitment,” Stoltenberg said after meeting with Novák.

Novák, on her side of the podium, said that the ratification process will be “a sovereign decision of the members of the Hungarian parliament.”

Budapest has been a thorn in NATO’s side regarding support for Ukraine other than non-lethal aid.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s latest move in meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin last month spurred backlash among NATO and European Union members.

Asked by the press about the impact of the meeting on Budapest’s relationship with its Western partners, Novák said: “I can assure you, there cannot be and should not be any relations between Hungary and Russia that would undermine our commitment with NATO or the EU.”

Budapest faced criticism for expanding its energy ties with Moscow while the war is still ongoing, repeatedly calling for peace in Ukraine, holding Kyiv to high minority protection standards in exchange for setting a NATO-Ukraine Council, and withholding the disbursement of EU cash for Ukraine.

[Edited by Alice Taylor]