Hungary: No!

Hungary: No!

This was revealed by the speaker of the Hungarian parliament to the local HirTV television late on Sunday, signaling a possible further delay in the process of Sweden's admission to the largest military alliance.

The Hungarian ratification process has been stalled in parliament since July 2022, and Budapest has expressed concern about Sweden's membership in NATO due to Swedish politicians' criticism of Hungary's democratic backsliding.

"We do not need an ally who has such an opinion about us," said the speaker of the Hungarian parliament, László Kövér. "It is not certain that we will vote for Sweden in NATO," he emphasized.

The Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter Szijjártó, has already sent an open letter to his Swedish colleague, in which he emphasizes that the request that the Hungarian parliament ratify Sweden's membership in NATO and the attack on Hungarian democracy are mutually contradictory.

By the way, Sweden and Finland applied for NATO last year after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Finland got the green light and joined the Alliance, but Sweden is being held back by Turkey and Hungary.

Budapest has said it will approve Swedish membership after Turkey does. However, although they got the green light after persuading Erdoğan, the parliament has not yet approved it.