Explanation: Here is why Hungary blocks Sweden’s NATO accession

The political director of the Hungarian prime minister, Balázs Orbán, explained on Twitter on Thursday evening why Hungary is reluctant to approve Sweden’s application for NATO membership. Read on to find out.

With the tweet, Mr Orbán reacted to Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson’s demand for answers after Hungary decided to separate Sweden’s and Finland’s NATO membership applications. We reported on it yesterday HERE.

In fact, the problem for government politicians is that Sweden’s leaders have repeatedly expressed concerns in the past about the direction of political developments in Hungary, Telex reports. They have also said that it is time for the EU to take tougher action against the Hungarian government. And this does not seem to sit right with the governing parties (Fidesz and KDNP).

The offending sentences that Mr Orbán quotes in his tweet are the following:

  • “For the EU, large parts of the job still remain to break the development in Hungary, to put pressure on the Hungarian government and to support the increasingly strong opposition.” (3 March 2021, Ulf Kristersson, then leader of the Moderate Party, now Prime Minister)
  • “It is now required that the EU act clearly and that the new conditionality mechanism stops payments to Hungary.” (30 June 2021, Jessika Roswall, then EU spokesperson of the Moderate Party, now Minister for EU Affairs)
  • “Hungary’s xenophobic and nationalist government continues to violate the principle of rule of law and wavers in supporting Ukraine.” (10 May 2022, Johan Pehrson, then leader of the Liberal Party, now Minister for Employment and Integration)


With his tweet, Viktor Orbán’s political director makes it clear that the majority in the Hungarian parliament is blocking Sweden’s NATO accession because of statements made by Swedish politicians on other issues. In contrast to Finland, which will be voted on in Parliament early next week. Balázs Orbán concludes his post with the words “Good morning, Stockholm”.

Read alsoExplanation: Here is why Hungary blocks Sweden’s NATO accession

Source: telex.hu, DNH

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