BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Sweden has not done anything to boost confidence in its suitability for NATO membership, and has given the impression that joining the alliance is not a priority for the country, an aide to Hungary’s prime minister said on Thursday.
Sweden applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in May 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine but the accession process, which requires the approval of all existing members, has been held up by Turkey and Hungary.
Ratification has been stranded in the Hungarian parliament for more than a year, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s ruling nationalists saying there is no threat to Sweden’s security and citing what they call undue Swedish allegations that they have eroded democracy in Hungary.
Sweden was “not taking any steps to strengthen trust in order for our relationship to become one of allies and friends”, Gergely Gulyas, Orban’s chief of staff, told a briefing.
“This relationship is one of allies legally right now, but it cannot be considered friendly, thus I need to conclude that it is not a priority for Sweden to join NATO quickly at all today.”
The Swedish foreign ministry did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Gulyas suggested that Sweden’s foreign minister or prime minister should “get in touch and ask what concerns the Hungarian parliament has” about Sweden’s NATO accession.
Replying to a reporter’s question, he said Hungary wanted to avoid being the last country to ratify Sweden’s NATO accession, but “we will probably not manage to do so without Sweden’s help. Why should it be important to me if it is not important to Sweden?”
Orban’s government, which has maintained warm ties with Moscow despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, has repeatedly promised that it will not be the last to ratify the Nordic country’s bid.
Hungary’s parliament, currently on a winter break, will resume its work some time around mid-February.
The Turkish parliament’s general assembly may debate Sweden’s NATO membership bid in the coming weeks, the ruling AK Party’s parliamentary group chairman said last week.
(Reporting by Gergely Szakacs and Anita Komuves in Budapest, additional reporting by Marie Mannes in Stockholm; Editing by Alex Richardson)
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