Always new difficulties for Sweden: after Turkey, Hungary could also block the NATO membership application.
Experts see calculations in Orbán.
Stockholm/Budapest - For the time being, Turkey probably only wants to open the door to NATO for Finland.
It now seems possible that Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orbán will become a free rider on this issue - and only allow Finland to ratify membership for the time being.
Orbán could see a strategic advantage in this, expert Anamaria Dutceac Segesten told Swedish broadcaster SVT.
Like Turkey, Hungary has not yet waved the two membership applications through - despite repeated assurances of goodwill.
Sweden's NATO accession: Orbán now Erdogan's free rider?
Hungary may see an opportunity
Orbán can now see an opportunity, as Segesten, a European researcher at Lund University in southern Sweden, explained.
In view of Turkey's willingness to allow (only) Finland into NATO, Hungary is showing "its goodwill in the NATO partnership in this scenario, while continuing to negotiate with the EU about access" to financial resources, the expert speculated.
"For Hungary, the NATO and EU issues are connected, these issues are treated as one," Segesten continued.
It is possible that Budapest wants to delay the negotiations with the EU - also in order to take advantage of the Swedish presidency.
Sweden will hold the post until June 30th.
The researcher Henri Vanhanen from the Finnish Institute for International Relations also assumes that Hungary will initially only confirm Finland's request, as the portal
hbl.fi
reports.
For him, however, it came as a complete surprise that Orbán's Fidesz party wanted to deal with the two applications for membership individually.
The Hungarian parliament only intends to ratify Finland's accession on March 27th
In November, the EU blocked the payment of 13.3 billion euros to Hungary - citing problems with the rule of law.
It's about money from the community budget and Corona aid.
Sweden's Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson had recently publicly hoped for accession after Turkey's elections on May 14.
Finland without Sweden in NATO: Niinistö defends alone
Meanwhile, Finland's “go it alone” into NATO is taking on clearer contours.
Finnish President Sauli Niinistö, for example, has now defended this scenario once again.
“Should we have refused Turkey ratification?
That sounds a bit crazy," said Niinistö: "It would have been a very difficult situation if we had said no to Ankara."
He has always emphasized that one goes "hand in hand" with Sweden, as far as it is in the hands of the Nordic countries, said the Finnish President.
"But the ratification of Finland's NATO membership is in the hands of Turkey and Hungary." He made similar statements at the Munich Security Conference in February.
In his assessment, Finland's earlier NATO membership would not worsen the security situation in Sweden, said Niinistö in the interview, which was to be broadcast in full on SVT on Sunday evening.
He doesn't hope that it will be long before Sweden succeeds Finland in NATO.
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