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.
I’m not informed enough on the specifics of why those two countries are/were against Sweden joining, so I can’t speak to that, but every member of the alliance has to approve new members, which is why anyone gives a shit what they think or want. Of course, a healthy alliance isn’t one that ignores its members, so even if their approval wasn’t required, it would probably still be best to get it.