Hungary signals further delay in ratification of Sweden, Finland's NATO bids

The chief of staff to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban hinted at a possible further delay of Budapest’s ratification of Sweden and Finland’s NATO bids. The top aide said that a vote may only be possible in the latter half of March.

Orban’s chief of staff Gergely Gulyas told a news conference on Saturday said more time may be needed for the Hungarian parliament to ratify the applications of the two Nordic countries. This follows the legislative agenda that was published on the parliament’s website that showed a final vote on Sweden and Finland’s NATO bids may take place on the week of March 6.

“Parliament will put this on the agenda on Monday and start debating the legislation next week,” said Gulyas. “Based on Hungarian procedure, adopting legislation takes about four weeks, so it follows that parliament can have a vote on this sometime in the second half of March, on the week of March 21.”

Sweden and Finland filed a joint application to join the NATO alliance last year as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The application needs the unanimous backing of all NATO member countries but has run into objections from Turkey. Ankara has accused Sweden of harboring groups seen by Turkey and many others as terrorists.

The ratification process in Hungary, one of the remaining two countries that have yet to ratify the bids, has been stalled since July. Orban, a nationalist, recently aired concerns about Sweden and Finland’s membership bid on Friday last week. Orban accused both countries of spreading “outright lies” about the state of democracy and the rule of law in Hungary.

Orban also said more talks were needed between parliamentary groups before lawmakers vote on ratification. Lawmakers start the debate on the legislation by Wednesday.

Early this month, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg hinted that Finland and Sweden could join the alliance separately, saying that it was important that both enter NATO quickly instead of at the same time.

“The main question is not whether Finland and Sweden are ratified together,” said the NATO chief at a meeting of the alliance’s defense ministers at the headquarters in Brussels. “The main question is that they are both ratified as full members as soon as possible.”