Sweden’s NATO bid clears final obstacle with Hungarian Parliament approval

Hungary’s Parliament voted Monday to ratify Sweden’s bid to join NATO, ending more than a year of delays and frustrations over whether it would back the Nordic nation’s accession into the Western military alliance in the face of Russian aggression. 

The vote, which passed 188-6, clears a final hurdle for Sweden to join NATO and caps an 18-month pressure campaign to convince Hungary’s nationalist government to lift its block on Sweden’s membership.  

Hungary is the last of NATO’s 31 members to back Sweden’s ascension into the alliance, which requires unanimous support among all members to admit new countries. Turkey also stalled on giving its approval but ratified the request last month. 

“Today is a historic day,” Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Sweden stands ready to shoulder its responsibility for Euro-Atlantic security.” 

Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO in May 2022 following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with Finland formally joining the alliance in April. 

Turkey and Hungary were holdouts on Sweden, with Turkey protesting the Nordic country supposedly harboring Kurdish separatists and Hungary claiming that Swedish politicians had criticized its government.  

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who is widely viewed as the most pro-Russian leader in the European Union, last week said he supported the bid from Sweden to join NATO after he met with Kristersson last week. Orbán’s endorsement also came after Sweden agreed to send Hungary fighter jets.  

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators also visited Hungary earlier this month to press Orbán. 

Speaking to lawmakers before the vote, Orbán said Sweden and Hungary’s military cooperation, coupled with Sweden’s NATO accession, will “strengthen Hungary’s security,” as reported by The Associated Press.  

Sweden’s accession into NATO is a hit to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who partly pointed to the alliance’s expansion to justify his ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

A presidential signature is still needed to formally endorse the approval of Sweden’s NATO bid, but that is expected to happen within the week.  

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg welcomed the vote on Monday.

“Now that all Allies have approved, Sweden will become the 32nd #NATO Ally,” he wrote on X. “Sweden’s membership will make us all stronger and safer.”