Also helping was a deal to sell more Swedish jet fighters to Hungary.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán kept Sweden’s bid to join NATO in the deep freeze for a long, long time.
It took a final climbdown by Swedish PM Ulf Kristersson, plus some jet fighters, to thaw the Hungarian leader.
After the Swedish government initially said it had no intention of coming to Budapest before the NATO vote was done, the Swedish prime minister swallowed his pride and made a pilgrimage to the Hungarian capital on Friday.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
"A deal on defense and military capacities helps to reconstruct the trust between the two countries,” needed to break the logjam, a pleased Orbán said at a joint press conference with Kristersson.
That marks the dénouement of 21 months of procrastination and negotiation that left most Western countries exhausted and confused about Budapest’s divisive tactics with allies they’re supposed to fight and die for in the event of war.
Echoing Kristerssson that the two countries would not always agree on all issues, Orbán added: “But at least we have a mutual trust of cooperation, which is the basis of guaranteeing of each other’s security, so that’s the reason why it took some time,” before stressing: “It’s not [about Hungary] changing our mind.”
“I would imagine that [was] the reason” for Hungary’s prolonged delay over Sweden’s NATO membership, added Dalunde, previously a member of the Swedish parliament’s defense committee who’s involved in Sweden-NATO relations.
Zoltán Kovács, Orbán’s state secretary for public diplomacy, said last year that there was “an ample amount of grievances that need to be addressed” between Hungary and Sweden.
Even though there is broad consensus in Sweden about the need to join NATO following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine almost two years ago, there is some distaste at how the final deal with Hungary was done.
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