Sweden and Finland afraid that Hungary will veto their NATO-accession

If a state wants to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, all the existing member states must give a green light. Up to now, all members did that in the case of Finland and Sweden but Hungary and Turkey. Ankara’s goal is clear for Helsinki and Stockholm since Turkey would like to hammer out favourable deals with the two Scandinavian nations. Meanwhile, the EU member Hungary’s standpoint caused incomprehension and even outrage after a Finnish politician and tabloid misunderstood a recent decision of the Hungarian parliament. They believed that Hungary vetoed their NATO accession. Below you may read the details.

Everybody has to accept

According to 24.hu, journalists and politicians do not understand why the Hungarian parliament has not yet discussed the NATO accession of the two Scandinavian countries. That is because László Kövér, the speaker of the House (Fidesz) does not include the issue on the agenda of the legislation. Of course, that is not his decision but probably PM Orbán’s. Helsinki and Stockholm would like to know the answers as to why the Hungarian prime minister delayed the decision. Some already have theories about that.

Among the 30 members of the US-led military alliance, only Hungary and Turkey did not give the green light for their NATO accession. Furthermore, the Hungarian government submitted the relevant bill to the parliament 2.5 months ago. Moreover, the Socialists would have liked to accelerate the decision-making process, but the speaker refused to do so. When the Socialists initiated a vote about that, MPs of the government parties said Nay. Bertalan Tóth, the chairman of the leftist party called the move shameful.

Read alsoSweden and Finland afraid that Hungary will veto their NATO-accession

Fidesz and KDNP voted ‘Nay’

Finland and Sweden have been cooperating with NATO for decades. The first Orbán government bought the Hungarian Air Force’s Gripens from Sweden in 1999. The Finnish PM is a devoted supporter of Ukraine and Finland is about the build a border fence to stop the Russian refugees. Both Sweden and Finland decided to join NATO this spring.

Finnish politics is utterly different from that of Hungary, so they did not understand why the government parties refused to accept the Socialists’ proposal about the acceleration. Many even misunderstood that. A Finnish politician tweeted that “family is the worst”, referring to the Hungarian-Finnish language kinship. That is because the Ilta-Sanomat, a local tabloid misunderstood the voting and wrote Fidesz rejected the NATO accession of the country.

Read alsoSweden and Finland afraid that Hungary will veto their NATO-accession

Blackmailing the EU?

Meanwhile, the Finnish president highlighted that their NATO accession depends mostly on Turkey. About Hungary, he only said that Budapest had disputes with the EU. Therefore, he does not consider Hungary’s approval an automatic decision but he does not worry because of Budapest.

Rudolf Berkes, an analyst of the Political Capital said the Orbán government did not want to allow the opposition to be successful in the issue. Helsingin Sanomat, a Finnish newspaper, reminded that Hungarian FM Péter Szijjártó expressed his backing towards their NATO accession before.

Read alsoSweden and Finland afraid that Hungary will veto their NATO-accession

Mika Aaltola, the director of FILA, said Turkey would accept the countries by the end of this year.

One of the most prestigious Swedish newspapers, the Dagens Nyheter, wrote that Hungary might slow down the accession process based on what Márton Tompos, a politician of opposition Momentum told them. Tompos believes that Orbán uses the Finnish and Swedish NATO accession to blackmail Brussels. Orbán wants access to the EU funds denied because of the corruption in Hungary. He does not think the government will veto it, but Orbán will use it to reach their own goals, Tompos said.

Zsolt Németh, the head of the parliament’s foreign affairs committee (Fidesz) could not tell the Swedish paper when the parliament would decide. However, he cleared they were positive about the NATO accession of the two countries.

Source: 24.hu