STOCKHOLM: Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson is set to meet Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban on Friday ahead of an important parliamentary vote in Budapest on Sweden’s stalled request to join NATO.
His meeting with Orban in Budapest will include defense and security policy cooperation between the two countries, the Swedish government said on Tuesday, AFP reported.
Hungary, the last holdout on Sweden’s application to join the bloc, is set to vote on whether to ratify the bid in parliament on Monday.
After Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, Sweden abandoned two centuries of military non-alignment and applied to join the US-led Western bloc in May 2022, at the same time as Finland.
Sweden’s Bid to Join NATO
Finland became the 31st member of the military alliance in April 2023, but both Turkiye and Hungary delayed the Swedish bid.
After more than a year of delays, Ankara ratified Sweden’s bid in January.
Although it supports Sweden in principle, Hungary has prolonged the process by urging Stockholm to stop criticizing Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government, which political critics accuse of authoritarianism.
It has often condemned what it termed Sweden’s “openly hostile attitude”, accusing Swedish officials of being very keen to criticize Hungary on rule-of-law matters.
But Mate Kocsis, the leader of Orban’s Fidesz party in parliament, said on Tuesday that his group intended to support Sweden’s membership request when Hungarian lawmakers vote on it on Monday.
In January, Orban invited the Swedish prime minister to Hungary, highlighting the need to build strong mutual trust through more intense political dialogue.
Kristersson accepted the invitation but rejected the idea of talks and demands concerning his nation’s bid to join NATO.
