Sweden’s PM Kristersson to visit Hungary with NATO bid ratification expected next week

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson will travel to Budapest on Friday (23 February) to meet his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orbán before Hungary’s parliament takes a long-delayed vote on Sweden’s bid for NATO membership next Monday.

Stockholm applied to join the transatlantic alliance nearly two years ago in a historic shift in policy prompted by Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

But Hungary is the only NATO member not yet to have ratified its accession, with Orbán’s ruling Fidesz party having repeatedly delayed a vote, citing grievances over Sweden criticising Budapest’s rule of law track record.

It would be a “pleasure” to welcome Kristersson in Budapest, Orbán said on Tuesday (20 February), after days of speculation about whether a visit would occur.

“We are planning to discuss how to strengthen the defence and security policy cooperation between Hungary and Sweden, as well as our plans for the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union and the EU’s Strategic Agenda,” Orbán added.

The visit follows an invitation to Kristersson by Orbán. Both leaders plan to hold a joint press conference.

His comments came after his own Fidesz party proposed earlier on Tuesday that parliament should vote to ratify Sweden’s bid to join NATO on 26 February, a move it would support.

Fidesz parliamentary group leader Máté Kocsis published a letter on social media addressed to Hungarian Parliament Speaker László Kövér, asking him to put the issue of Swedish accession to NATO on the agenda for next Monday.

In the letter, Kocsis confirmed the Fidesz parliamentary group would greenlight the decision.

Fidesz has a huge majority in parliament, and it could have approved Sweden’s membership bid at any time over the past two years, especially since the relevant legislation was submitted in mid-2022.

The delay has soured Hungary’s relations with the United States, with senior US officials expressing irritation over Sweden’s demand to ‘come and negotiate’ and raised concerns among Budapest’s Western allies.

Stockholm’s NATO membership is “not a matter of negotiation”, Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson told Euractiv earlier this week.

“As future allies, we can have a dialogue (…), and then we will see in more detail what matters of cooperation they would be interested in exploring,” Jonson said.

“For example, the Hungarians are operating the [Swedish] Gripen [fighter jets] system, and we have a good military-to-military cooperation, so we can certainly have a dialogue.”