STOCKHOLM, Sweden: Hungary’s parliament overwhelmingly approved Sweden’s NATO membership on Monday, paving the way for the Nordic country to join after nearly two years of intense negotiations and dealing a geopolitical blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The last obstacle for Stockholm to join NATO was the approval of the Hungarian Parliament. Swedish Prime Minister Olaf Kristerson visited Budapest on Friday to discuss defence and security cooperation with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. The two countries appear to have reached a compromise with an agreement in which Hungary will purchase four new Swedish-made Gripen fighter jets.
Of the 194 delegates who voted, only 6 rejected Sweden’s membership.
“Today is a historic day,” Kristersson took to X to say shortly after the vote. “Sweden stands ready to shoulder its responsibility for Euro-Atlantic security.”
Sweden will formally join the alliance after submitting its accession documents to the US government, which is the trustee of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that Sweden will join the alliance as all the stake-holders have approved their participation.
“Sweden’s membership will make us all stronger and safer,” he added.
Sweden’s membership brought NATO’s membership to 32, but the outcome was ironic given that Russia has waged war on Ukraine, in part because of the alliance’s growth in eastern Europe along its border with Russia.
Last year, Finland became NATO’s 31st member, adding about 1,300 kilometers (830 miles) to its alliance’s borders with Russia.
As NATO has announced, Finland and Sweden will enjoy the protections granted under Article 5 of the treaty that created the military alliance. The treaty states that an attack on one member state is an attack on all member states.
Sweden and Finland have announced their intention to join a coalition to counter Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, abandoning decades of non-alignment that defined their diplomatic relations during the Cold War.
NATO has an open-door policy. This means that any country that has expressed an interest in NATO and is able and willing to abide by the principles of the NATO founding treaty can join it.
However, under the rules of accession, any member state can veto the accession of new countries. Most NATO members quickly approved the request of Finland and Sweden, but Hungary and Turkey resisted for a while.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Finland and Sweden of being too soft on Kurdish terrorist groups, and Prime Minister Orban has criticized EU standards on the rule of law (fundamental values enshrined in EU treaties).
Because of these concerns, the European Union froze billions of dollars in funds intended for Hungary to address these concerns. Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his government have repeatedly denied violating EU law.
Hungary and Turkey, however, softened their stance on Finland’s membership and approved Finland’s application in March last year. Turkey’s parliament approved Sweden’s entry last month after Stockholm strengthened anti-terrorism laws and pledged to work more closely with Turkey on security concerns.
Immediately after Turkey’s vote, Orban told NATO chief Stoltenberg that his government also supported Sweden’s membership. The Hungarian leader said this in his state of the country speech in February.
Sweden’s entry into NATO comes at a critical moment in the Ukraine war, when Russia has achieved new successes on the battlefield and Western support for Kiev is failing after two years of war.
