Orbán Promises To Quickly Ratify Sweden's Admission To NATO

• 24.01.2024, 19:42

The NATO Secretary General welcomed the position of the Hungarian Prime Minister.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, following Turkey's agreement, promised to ratify Sweden's long-delayed admission to NATO as quickly as possible.

“I reaffirmed that the Hungarian government supports the NATO-membership of Sweden. I also stressed that we will continue to urge the Hungarian National Assembly to vote in favor of Sweden’s accession and conclude the ratification at the first possible opportunity,”

Orbán wrote on social media X at the end of a telephone conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Wednesday, January 24.

Stoltenberg, for his part, said he welcomed Orbán and the Hungarian government's clear support for Sweden's NATO membership and hoped ratification would take place as soon as parliament reconvened.

Viktor Orbán did not specify when exactly the vote in the Hungarian parliament might take place on the issue of Sweden's accession to the North Atlantic Alliance. The next session will begin on February 27. It is not yet clear whether the Hungarian parliament can meet before then for an extraordinary session.

The issue of ratifying Sweden's accession to NATO has already been approved by the relevant committees of the State Assembly of Hungary, all that remains is to vote at the plenary session.

In Turkey, after the positive outcome of the vote in parliament in Ankara, all that remains to be done to ratify Sweden’s entry into NATO is to obtain the signature of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.