© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Budapest, Hungary, January 16, 2024. REUTERS/Bernadett Szabo/File Photograph
By Krisztina Than
BUDAPEST (Reuters) -The Hungarian parliament can ratify Sweden’s NATO membership when it convenes for its new spring session later this month, Prime Minister Viktor Orban informed his supporters on Saturday.
“It is excellent news that our dispute with Sweden will quickly be settled,” Orban stated in a key speech. “We’re going within the path that at first of parliament’s spring session we are able to ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO.”
He stated he and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson had taken steps “to rebuild belief” between the 2 international locations. Orban didn’t say what these steps had been.
Sweden utilized to affix NATO in Might 2022 in a historic shift in coverage prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Hungary is the one NATO nation not but to have ratified Sweden’s software, a course of that requires the backing of all NATO members. The delay has soured relations with the US and raised considerations amongst its allies.
Orban’s ruling Fidesz occasion has cited what it known as unfounded Swedish allegations that it has eroded democracy in Hungary as the explanation why Sweden’s NATO bid had been held up.
Orban, who has higher ties with Russia than different EU states and most NATO members, has repeatedly stated his authorities backs Sweden becoming a member of the alliance, however the laws has been stranded within the Hungarian parliament since mid-2022.
Parliament is anticipated to reconvene on February 26.