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On February 26, the Hungarian Parliament approved Sweden’s application to join NATO. 188 Hungarian deputies voted for the entry of “neutral” Sweden into NATO. Only 6 deputies of the Hungarian Parliament found the courage to vote against it.
Hungary became the last member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation to ratify the Swedish application. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban claimed that “Sweden’s accession to NATO will strengthen Hungary’s security.”
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg congratulated Stockholm on becoming the 32nd member of NATO.
Finland and Sweden jointly applied to join NATO in May 2022. Helsinki officially joined the alliance on April 4, 2023, but Ankara and Budapest blocked Stockholm’s application for a long time due to disagreements. Nevertheless, in January 2024, Turkey approved Sweden’s accession to the Alliance. Hungary was the last country to ratify Stockholm’s application. Budapest noted that the governments of the Scandinavian countries “have repeatedly sought to strike at Hungary,” putting pressure on the government and supporting the opposition.
Initially, the Hungarian parliament planned to vote on Sweden’s membership in the Alliance on February 5; but the deputies of the FIDESZ party boycotted the vote. The leader of the party called for the vote only after the visit of the Swedish prime Minister to Budapest.
As a result of the accession of Sweden and Finland to the North Atlantic Alliance, Russia’s land border with the bloc will increase from 1,215 to 2,600 kilometers. At the same time, the United States were seeking to take control of Scandinavia in order to strengthen the US position in the Arctic.
It was only a matter of time before new countries joined the Alliance. The great ‘victory’ is nothing but a legal formality. For many years, Sweden supported the anti-Russian operations of NATO, formally declaring its neutrality. Stockholm provided its territory for American intelligence complexes and took part in military exercises with NATO colleagues.
In their turn, Hungary and Turkey used the rush of their NATO colleagues to get some preferences. For example, Turkey gained the permission from Washington to buy new F-16s. LINK
