Hungary has repeated a promise that it will not be the last NATO country to ratify Sweden’s application to join the alliance, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Tuesday after meeting his Hungarian counterpart earlier in the week.
Sweden applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in May last year in a major shift in security strategy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It hoped for smooth accession process, but the application has been held up by Turkey and Hungary that have so far refused to support it.
Billstrom said he met Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto in Brussels on Monday and asked whether Hungary stood by its promise not to be the last NATO member to approve Sweden.
“His clear message was, yes we do. We will not be last,” Billstrom said.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
STOCKHOLM, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Hungary has repeated a promise that it will not be the last NATO country to ratify Sweden’s application to join the alliance, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Tuesday after meeting his Hungarian counterpart earlier in the week.
Sweden applied to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in May last year in a major shift in security strategy following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
It hoped for smooth accession process, but the application has been held up by Turkey and Hungary that have so far refused to support it.
Billstrom said he met Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto in Brussels on Monday and asked whether Hungary stood by its promise not to be the last NATO member to approve Sweden.
Turkey indicated in late November it could be ready to approve Sweden as a NATO member within a few weeks.
But President Tayyip Erdogan has linked the process to Turkey’s hopes of buying F-16 fighter jets from the United States, a deal Congress has delayed.
The original article contains 214 words, the summary contains 171 words. Saved 20%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!