Hungary promises to ratify the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO by the end of the year

The head of the administration of the Prime Minister of Hungary, Gergely Gulyás, said that his country will ratify the membership of Sweden and Finland in NATO by the end of the year. According to him, the Hungarian government has already submitted relevant documents to the National Assembly.

Politico writes about it.

Gulyás said that the NATO expansion will be ratified in mid-December at the latest. Hungary hopes that this will strengthen NATO.

Answering journalistsʼ questions about whether this expansion corresponds to the interests of Hungaryʼs national security, Gulyás noted that this issue is debatable, but the Hungarian side sees no reason to slow it down.

Currently, only two NATO countries have not yet ratified the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO — Hungary and Turkey. The other 28 member states have already done so.

• Sweden and Finland have applied to join NATO in May 2022. All 30 member states must agree, but Turkey has vetoed it.
• After talks at the NATO summit in Madrid, Turkish President Recep Erdogan agreed with his Finnish and Swedish counterparts on June 28 on a series of security measures that will allow the two Scandinavian countries to move forward in their quest to join the Alliance. Turkish media published the terms agreed to by Sweden and Finland. In particular, they undertake to cooperate with Turkey in countering terrorism and exchange intelligence. Also, these countries should oppose the Kurdistan Workersʼ Party, recognized as a terrorist in the EU and Turkey, and its affiliated organizations.
• On July 4, the countries concluded negotiations with NATO and the following day signed the protocol on joining the Alliance. Now this document must be ratified by all NATO member states — after that, Sweden and Finland will become full members of the Alliance.