Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban reaffirmed Wednesday in a call to NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg his “
support
” for Swedish membership, the day after the Turkish vote and an invitation to Budapest from his Swedish counterpart.
“
I told him again that the Hungarian government supported the Swedish candidacy
,” he declared on X (formerly Twitter), adding that he would “
continue to call on Parliament to complete the ratification at the first possible opportunity
” .
“
Good telephone exchange with Viktor Orban
,” commented the NATO Secretary General, welcoming the “
clear support
” of the Hungarian official.
“
Look forward to ratification taking place as soon as Parliament resumes its work
.”
The deputies must sit again from mid-February.
But the file is not on the agenda at this stage.
The Turkish Parliament ratified Sweden's entry into the Atlantic Alliance on Tuesday, the end of twenty months of negotiations.
Hungary therefore now remains the only holdout.
Budapest, which has given its support in principle but has been dragging its feet for months, is calling on Stockholm to stop its policy of “
denigration
” towards the Hungarian government, accused of authoritarian drift.
“A more intense political dialogue”
Viktor Orban demands “
respect
” in Stockholm and invited Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson to Hungary on Tuesday, citing in a letter the need to “
build solid mutual trust
” through “
more intense political dialogue
”.
The Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs has so far responded coldly to the invitation, affirming that his country had “no
reason
” to currently negotiate with Hungary.
“
During the Madrid summit last year, Hungary (..) granted Sweden guest status
” with a view to joining NATO, without making any 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.
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 the 31st member of the organization in April.
In the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the two neighboring countries broke with decades of neutrality after World War II, then military non-alignment since the end of the Cold War.