The Turkish parliament approved on Tuesday by an overwhelming majority Sweden’s accession to NATO, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban invited his Swedish counterpart to Budapest to try to remove the last obstacles to the Nordic country’s entry. in the Atlantic Alliance.
The vote by the Turkish parliament puts an end to 20 months of negotiations which tested the patience of Ankara’s Western allies, eager to form a united front against Moscow in the context of the invasion of Ukraine.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson welcomed “one more step” towards his country’s membership in NATO.
Just like NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg, who also called on Hungary to complete its “national ratification as quickly as possible”. Sweden’s membership “makes NATO stronger and strengthens our security”, he added.
“The upcoming accession of Sweden, like that of Finland which has already taken place, will further strengthen the Atlantic Alliance,” argued the spokesperson for the German government, Steffen Hebestreit.
It is “a direct reaction to the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine,” he recalled.
And for the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Espen Barth Eide, Sweden’s membership in NATO will make the Nordic countries “more secure”.
More than Hungary to convince
Hungary now remains the only holdout.
For months, Mr. Orban has been demanding “respect” from Stockholm, whose policy of “denigration” and his regular remarks on the authoritarian drift of the Central European country he denounces.
In the absence of a signal from them and under pressure from his NATO partners, the nationalist leader therefore took the lead.
“Today I sent a letter to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson inviting him to Hungary to discuss Sweden’s entry into the Atlantic Alliance,” he wrote on X.
In his letter, consulted by AFP, he mentioned the need to “build solid mutual trust” through “a more intense political dialogue”.
The response came a few hours later.
“I see no reason to negotiate today,” the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs reacted to the press.
“At the Madrid summit last year, Hungary […] granted Sweden guest status” with a view to joining NATO, without reservations, underlined Tobias Billström.
On the other hand, he said he was ready for “discussions”, noting “the many common points” and “military cooperation” between the two countries.
“Insane masquerade”
“In addition, we will soon form a broader concept by becoming allies [au sein] of NATO. We can talk, state to state, about what that will mean,” he added, without responding at this stage to the invitation addressed to the Prime Minister.
Sweden announced in May 2022, in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, its candidacy for NATO, at the same time as Finland, which became in April 31e member of the organization.
Hungary has certainly given its support in principle, but it has been dragging its feet for months.
Some experts saw it as a strategy of blackmail by Viktor Orban to obtain concessions from the European Union, others a sign of his proximity to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and the Turkish head of state, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
The nationalist leader had promised not to be the last to give his approval, but by waiting too long, he was preceded by the Turkish Parliament.
To satisfy Ankara’s demands, Sweden reformed its Constitution and adopted a new anti-terrorism law, with Turkey accusing Sweden of leniency towards Kurdish militants who had taken refuge on its soil, some of whom were considered terrorists by Ankara.
At the beginning of December, Mr. Erdoğan added as a condition for Ankara’s ratification the “simultaneous” approval by the American Congress of the sale of F-16 fighter planes to Turkey.
In the Hungarian opposition, the Socialist Party (MSZP) called on Viktor Orban to “put an end to this senseless charade, which considerably harms the image of Hungary”, demanding the convening of an extraordinary session of the Assembly to finally proceed to the vote.
On the side of the pro-Orban media, we rebelled on Tuesday at a Sweden which “demands a blood pact without making any gesture in return”, according to an article in the magazine Mandine.