Orbán justifies the veto with the criticism of the main politicians of the Swedish government to the political situation of his country. In addition to Hungary, Turkey is also blocking Sweden’s membership of NATO.
Sweden may bury its hopes of joining NATO at the defense alliance’s summit in mid-July. The Hungarian parliament did not put ratification of the accession protocol on the agenda of its last session before the summer break, opposition MP Ágnes Vadai announced Thursday after a meeting of the main parliamentary committee. The media had already reported the decision before the formal decision was made.
Parliament is controlled by Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s right-wing nationalist Fidesz party. Orbán justifies the veto with the criticism of the main politicians of the Swedish government to the political situation of his country. In addition to Hungary, Turkey is also blocking Sweden’s membership of NATO. Turkey accuses Sweden of not doing enough against Kurdish terrorists. The Nordic country has also been accused of Islamophobia. It was only on Wednesday that the Swedish police had to allow the public burning of a Koran in Stockholm following a court decision, which triggered strong protests not only in the Muslim world. the US also described the burning of religious texts as “disrespectful and offensive”.
Finland and Sweden jointly applied for NATO membership last year in response to Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine. Turkey immediately expressed concerns, but these appeared to be allayed after a compromise negotiated by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at last year’s NATO summit in June. Hungary, which unlike other NATO members is not providing military aid to the attacked Ukraine, subsequently joined in the criticism. Finland managed to appease Budapest and Ankara in the meantime and was accepted into the alliance in April. Sweden then expressed hope of being included in the NATO summit on 11 and 12 July in Vilnius, Lithuania. (APA/Portal)