NATO accession

Orban insists on Kristersson’s visit

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban

(Bild: APA/AFP/Ludovic MARIN)

Hungary's government does not want to ratify Sweden's accession to NATO until Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson has visited his counterpart Orban in Budapest. This was announced by the ruling party Fidesz on Friday. Kristersson and Orban had met briefly at a special EU summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Kristersson stated afterwards that the talks with Orban had gone well. He did not comment specifically on a meeting in Hungary, but indicated that he would prefer not to travel to Budapest until Hungary's government had ratified Sweden's accession to NATO. Hungary is the only one of the 31 countries in the military alliance that has not ratified Sweden's membership. One argument is alleged criticism of the state of the Hungarian rule of law.

Parliament session on Monday
The left-liberal opposition has requested a special session of parliament for Monday, February 5. The governing parties Fidesz and KDNP have already announced that their MPs will not attend. Although the opposition was able to decide on the session with the necessary number of votes, it cannot influence the content, as this also requires the votes of Fidesz. The actual parliamentary session does not begin until February 26.

Due to the war in Ukraine, Sweden's government applied for NATO membership together with Finland in May 2022. Finland was already accepted at the beginning of April 2023.