The Hungarian parliament will decide in early March whether Finland and Sweden will join NATO, according to the daily agenda of the hemicycle, which will be published this Wednesday.
The candidacy of the two Nordic countries, which must be unanimously accepted by the 30 NATO member states, has been ratified by all except Turkey and Hungary. Hungarian deputies will debate the issue next week before a separate vote for each of the two countries between March 6 and 9, the parliament said on its website.
This debate has been postponed several times due to “congestion” in legislation, with the opposition accusing Viktor Orbán’s government of delaying the process. The nationalist prime minister, a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, plans to maintain ties with Moscow despite the war in Ukraine.
Orbán has avoided criticism of Russian President Vladimir Putin and refuses to send weapons to Kiev, calling for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks. Despite the criticism, Budapest has repeatedly stated that it “has no objection” to Finland’s and Sweden’s candidacies in the Atlantic Alliance.
“We have a clear position,” said Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto at the end of January. “We support NATO enlargement, and when parliament meets again in February, the issue will be on the agenda and we will resolve it quickly.”promised.
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested in early February a possible ratification of the accession of Finland and on the sidelines of Sweden, jointly presented but still blocked by Ankara.
Stockholm, already accused of harboring Kurdish militants and sympathizers whom Turkey deems “terrorists”, is also deadlocked trying to get Ankara’s approval after several anti-Turkish demonstrations that saw a copy of the Quran burned .
Source: DN
