Hungary to begin debate on Finnish and Swedish NATO accession

The process of ratification of Finland's and Sweden's applications to join NATO will begin Wednesday in the Hungarian parliament.

This is reported by European Pravda.

Debates will begin in the Hungarian legislature on March 1, and the vote to approve the two countries' applications is expected in the second half of March.

Hungary is the only NATO country other than Turkey that has not yet ratified the Swedish and Finnish bids.

Budapest has not publicly made any demands on Helsinki and Stockholm, but last week Mate Kocsis, chairman of Viktor Orban's Fides party faction, said that "serious debates" have now arisen over the two countries' accession. Hungary has decided to send a delegation to Sweden and Finland to study the "political disputes" that have arisen.

The Hungarian prime minister said Friday that although we support Sweden and Finland joining NATO in principle, we need to have serious discussions first.

Orban pointed to previous criticism by Finland and Sweden of Hungary's rule-of-law situation, arguing that some in his party questioned the wisdom of accepting countries that spread blatant lies about Hungary.

Author - Olena Madiak, 01/03/2023