NATO chief says Hungarian leader showed ‘clear support’ for Stockholm, just a day after Orbán floated ‘negotiations.’

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the last remaining holdout in Sweden’s bid to join NATO, now says he supports its application and vows that Hungary’s parliament will say yes “at the first possible opportunity.”

Orbán’s remark, made during a call today with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, comes a day after he asked his Swedish counterpart to first fly to Hungary for negotiations on NATO membership, only to be snubbed by the Swedish government.

Hungary also broke a promise not to become the last to ratify Sweden’s bid, when the Turkish parliament approved Stockholm’s membership status late Tuesday, some 20 months after Stockholm submitted the application when Russia’s war against Ukraine upended the Scandinavian country’s centuries-old stance of neutrality.

  • alvvayson@lemmy.world
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    10 months ago

    I was expecting this news.

    I think someone is doing some arm twisting in NATO, and I think that someone might be Joe Biden.

  • sparky@lemmy.federate.cc@lemmy.federate.cc
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    10 months ago

    This is probably inevitable now that Turkey gave in. With two obstructionists they could point at each other, but once you’re the last one still blocking, you’re singled out as the asshole.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    10 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, the last remaining holdout in Sweden’s bid to join NATO, now says he supports its application and vows that Hungary’s parliament will say yes “at the first possible opportunity.”

    Orbán’s remark, made during a call today with NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, comes a day after he asked his Swedish counterpart to first fly to Hungary for negotiations on NATO membership, only to be snubbed by the Swedish government.

    Hungary also broke a promise not to become the last to ratify Sweden’s bid, when the Turkish parliament approved Stockholm’s membership status late Tuesday, some 20 months after Stockholm submitted the application when Russia’s war against Ukraine upended the Scandinavian country’s centuries-old stance of neutrality.

    “I reaffirmed that the Hungarian government supports the NATO-membership of Sweden,” Orbán tweeted.

    “I also stressed that we will continue to urge the Hungarian National Assembly to vote in favor of Sweden’s accession and conclude the ratification at the first possible opportunity.”

    Referring to the “good call” with Orbán, Stoltenberg said: "I welcome the clear support of the Prime Minister and his government for Sweden’s NATO membership.


    The original article contains 205 words, the summary contains 185 words. Saved 10%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!