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Hungary raised concerns on Thursday, pointing out Sweden’s perceived inactivity in enhancing bilateral relations, hinting that swift NATO accession may not be a top priority for the Nordic nation.
As the only remaining holdouts in NATO, Hungary and Turkey have yet to ratify Sweden’s bid to join the defense alliance, a move prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
While Turkey has conditioned its approval on simultaneous approval from the US Congress for 40 F-16 fighter jets, Hungary has consistently expressed support for Sweden’s NATO bid but has been hesitant to bring the matter to a parliamentary vote.
In September of last year, Orban informed the parliament that endorsing Sweden’s NATO bid wasn’t a pressing matter, stressing the need for “respect” from the Nordic country, an EU counterpart.
Budapest has consistently criticized what it perceives as Stockholm’s “openly hostile attitude,” accusing Swedish representatives of frequently targeting Hungary on rule-of-law matters.
On Thursday, Gergely Gulyas, Chief of Staff to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, highlighted the absence of “confidence-building steps” from Stockholm to enhance relations. He characterized their relationship as “legally an alliance but can hardly be considered friendly.”
Gulyas concluded, “I must, therefore, infer that for Sweden, rapid NATO accession is not a priority at this time.” The senior government official suggested that the Swedish government “should get in touch, ask what concerns the Hungarian Parliament has, and what they can do about it.”
When asked about a previous pledge by Orban not to be the last to ratify Sweden’s bid, Gulyas avoided reaffirming it, stating, “We want to avoid this situation, but without Swedish help, we probably can’t. If it is not important to the Swedes, why should it be important to us?”.
