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The Swedish Prime Minister welcomes “another step” towards his country’s NATO membership. Hungary now remains the sole holdout, but the Hungarian prime minister invited his Swedish counterpart to Budapest on Tuesday to try to remove the final obstacles.
Published on January 23, 2024 9:53 p.m
Reading time: 2 minutes
The Turkish Parliament during the voting session on Sweden's membership in NATO, January 23, 2024. (METIN AKTAS / ANADOLU / AFP)
This marks the end of twenty months of negotiations. On Tuesday, January 23, the Turkish parliament ratified Sweden's membership in NATO. The Swedish candidacy, which now only requires the green light from Hungary, was approved by Turkish MPs with 287 votes in favor and 55 against. Sweden, which is poised to become the 32nd member country of the Atlantic Alliance, announced its candidacy in May 2022, at the same time as Finland, which joined in April 2023.
Sweden has taken “another step” towards NATO membership after the Turkish parliament gave the green light, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Tuesday. “Today we took another step towards full membership in NATO,” he said in a message on X (ex-twitter), assessing the Turkish parliament’s approval of this accession as “positive.”
I'm close to becoming fully involved in NATO. The positive stance of the Turkish parliament was accepted by Swedish NATO.
— SwedishPM (@SwedishPM) January 23, 2024
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the two neighboring countries broke with decades of neutrality after the Second World War and with military non-alignment since the end of the Cold War. To meet Ankara's demands, Sweden even went so far as to reform its constitution and pass a new anti-terrorism law. In doing so, Turkey accused the Nordic country of leniency towards Kurdish militants who had sought refuge on its soil, some of whom Ankara considered terrorists. In early December, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan added the “simultaneous” approval of the American Congress to the sale of F-16 fighter jets to Turkey as a condition for ratification, further delaying the green light from his parliament.
Hungary is the last country to oppose this accession
The final act before Sweden joins NATO is now taking place in Hungary. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban invited his Swedish counterpart to Budapest on Tuesday to try to remove the final obstacles to a green light from his parliament. “Today I sent a letter to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson inviting him to Hungary to discuss Sweden's entry into the Atlantic Alliance,” he wrote on X.
Today I sent a letter of invitation to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson @SwedishPM for a visit to Hungary to negotiate Sweden's accession to NATO.
— Orbán Viktor (@PM_ViktorOrban) January 23, 2024
The answer came a few hours later. “I see no reason to negotiate today,” the Swedish foreign minister replied to the press. On the other hand, he said he was ready for “discussions” and pointed to “the many similarities” and “military cooperation” between the two countries.