Hungary agrees to Sweden joining NATO
Hungary approved Sweden's accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) this Monday (26). The approval was the last thing required for the Nordic country to officially join the military organization.
The Hungarian parliament approved Sweden's accession with 188 votes in favor and six against, after the decision had been postponed for more than 18 months. Joining NATO required the consent of all members of the organization.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson described this Monday as a historic day and wrote on social media: “We are ready to assume our part of the responsibility for the security of NATO.”
A signature from the Hungarian president is now required to officially confirm approval of Sweden's NATO candidacy which is expected in the coming days. Sweden will then officially become the 32nd member of the military agreement (A complete list of the organization's countries can be found below).
What will change with Sweden in NATO?
With Sweden's NATO membership, the entire Baltic Sea coast will belong to the alliance's territory with the exception of the coasts of Russia and Kaliningrad. In other words, in the event of a Russian attack, it would be easier to defend the Baltic countries, for example.
In addition, the Swedish army and all of the country's military equipment will also belong to NATO.
Although the country is small and has a military force of about 50,000 people (half of whom are reservists), Simon Koschut, chair of international security policy at Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen, told DW: “The Swedes have…” a very modern army, especially a modern, homegrown air force.”
The country is also known for its naval power with submarines. So much so that they have already taken part in some NATO missions, for example in Afghanistan. According to the expert, the country's geographical location is the main reason why Sweden's membership in NATO would be so attractive.
The Swedes also committed to increasing defense spending to meet NATO's target of 2% of gross domestic product.
1 of 1 Sweden joins NATO Photo: g1 Sweden joins NATO Photo: g1
It is worth remembering that Sweden remained outside military alliances for more than 200 years and for a long time excluded the possibility of joining NATO. But when the conflict between Ukraine and Russia began in February 2022, The country decided to apply to join the alliance.
Joining the organization brings a major change related to Article 5 of the NATO Treaty, which states that an armed attack against one country of the organization is considered an attack against all. In this case, the military alliance undertakes to provide assistance.
Another advantage is that the Swedes would be full members of the NATO Council, the alliance's main decisionmaking body, and would have veto power like Hungary, which had previously prevented the country from joining the organization.
However, Deborah Solomon of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society explained in an interview with the BBC that the country could lose its role as a peacemaker and leader in the fight for nuclear disarmament. This is because the US, for example, pressured several members of the organization not to take part in the UN disarmament negotiations in 2019.
Hungary postponed approval for 18 months
For some analysts, Hungary's postponement of the approval was a strategy to negotiate with the European Union to release billions of dollars in frozen funds.
Others pointed out the reason Close to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğanwho justified his reluctance for security reasons.
In any case, most believe that Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson's visit to Hungary last week accelerated negotiations. During the trip, the Hungarian government announced the purchase of four Swedish fighter jets.
At the time, Orbán said the fighter jets would increase the country's military capabilities and improve Hungary's participation in NATO military operations.
At the beginning of the parliamentary session this Monday, Orbán praised Kristersson's visit, which he said had contributed to the construction of “a fair and respectful relationship between the two countries” beyond “differences of opinion”.
“Sweden's accession to NATO will strengthen Hungary's security,” he added.
NATO (an acronym for North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is an alliance of 31 countries including the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom and France.
The organization was founded in 1949, during the socalled Cold War, under the leadership of the USA as an opposition to the defunct Soviet Union. During the Cold War, countries aligned with the United States were members of NATO, and the Soviet Union had a similar alliance, the Warsaw Pact.
After the dissolution of the communist bloc in 1991, many Warsaw Pact countries joined NATO including Poland, whose capital Warsaw gave its name to the old alliance.
Since then, NATO has operated primarily as an alliance protecting the economic interests of its members, with some exceptions, such as when it acted directly in Libya in the conflict over the overthrow of dictator Muammar Gaddafi.
See the list of NATO members:
- Albania (2009)
- Germany (1955)
- Belgium (1949)
- Bulgaria (2004)
- Canada (1949)
- Czech Republic (1999)
- Croatia (2009)
- Denmark (1949)
- Slovakia (2004)
- Slovenia (2004)
- Spain (1982)
- United States (1949)
- Estonia (2004)
- Finland (2023)
- France (1949)
- Greece (1952)
- Netherlands (1949)
- Hungary (1999)
- Iceland (1949)
- Italy (1949)
- Latvia (2004)
- Lithuania (2004)
- Luxembourg (1949)
- North Macedonia (2020)
- Montenegro (2017)
- Norway (1949)
- Poland (1999)
- Portugal (1949)
- United Kingdom (1949)
- Romania (2004)
- Turkiye (1952)