a minute agoHungary again postpones vote for Swedish, Finland NATO membership
Periskopi(3 years ago)
(3 years ago)Hungary is expected to postpone the vote for ratification of Sweden and Finland's NATO membership application again. Hungarian media published a letter by Deputy Prime Minister Zsolt Semjen on March 14th, which demanded that the planned parliamentary session be held on March 20th be postponed for a week. As a reason, Semjen cited negotiations with [...]
As a reason, Semjen cited negotiations with the executive branch of the European Union over Budapest's alleged violations in the bloc's demands for rule of law.
On March 2nd, Hungary has postponed this vote, which was scheduled to take place early in the month.
Hungary remains the only NATO member state, which, apart from Turkey, has not yet approved the applications of the two Nordic countries to join the Western military alliance.
NATO requires that all 30 states ratify membership applications in order to adopt other states.
The party of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has supported the accession of Finland and Sweden to NATO.
But, the Hungarian opposition has criticised the Orban party for dragging the issue of ratification of Nordic countries' membership in the military alliance.
After the launch of the Russian occupation of Ukraine, Finland and Sweden in May 2022 decided to apply for NATO membership.
So far, Turkey has refused to ratify Sweden and Finland's application, presenting certain conditions to these states. Ankara largely rejects Sweden's accession, as it says it houses persons it considers members of terrorist organisations.
But, recently Ankara has signaled it is willing to ratify Finland's application for NATO membership.
