Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin thanked Hungary for ratifying Finland’s membership of NATO. At the same time, she campaigned yesterday for Sweden to be admitted quickly. “Thank you for the clear decision,” wrote the Prime Minister on Twitter shortly after the vote in the Hungarian Parliament. Previously, 182 Hungarian MEPs voted in favor of Finland’s admission to NATO and six against.
“The membership of Finland and Sweden in NATO reinforces the security of the entire alliance. It is in everyone’s interest that Sweden is also a member of NATO before the Vilnius summit,” Marin said.
Impressed by the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the Nordic country with a border of more than 1,300 kilometers with Russia decided last May, together with Sweden, to apply for admission to the western defense alliance. Countries would like to join at the same time.
sweden on hold
However, Turkey blocked Sweden from joining. She accuses the country of not taking consistent action against “terrorist organizations”. Ankara is primarily concerned about the banned PKK Kurdish Workers Party. Hungary has debated Sweden’s accession protocol but has yet to set a date for the vote.
Budapest blames Swedish politicians and their “lies about Hungary”. According to Orban’s government, he supports both countries joining NATO, but the parliamentary majority for Sweden’s admission is very uncertain, he said.
The head of the parliamentary group of the right-wing Fidesz party, Mate Kocsis, had previously said that in Finland’s case it was a “special historical friendship and a special alliance” that could solve the existing problems. This is not the case in Sweden, Kocsis emphasized.